- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has released its judgment in the case of Kaliña and Lokono Peoples v Suriname, nine years after the case was first submitted by Chiefs of the eight Kaliña and Lokon villages of the Lower Marowijne River and Association of Village Leaders in Suriname. The Court found Suriname responsible for violations of the American Convention on Human Rights due to the failure to recognise and guarantee legal personality and territorial rights of the Kaliña and Lokono as well as breaches of these and other rights in connection with bauxite mining, grants of individual titles to non-indigenous persons and restrictions imposed in two nature reserves. It gave orders with deadlines to comply. The Court said that ‘respect for the rights of the indigenous peoples may have a positive impact on environmental conservation’ and that ‘the rights of the indigenous peoples and international environmental laws should be understood as complementary’.
- The Green Party of England and Wales has become the first UK-wide political party to vote Rights of Nature into their policies. This follows an overwhelming vote in favour at the party’s spring conference on 28th The Scottish Green Party introduced a Rights of Nature policy at their autumn conference in 2015. The vote for Rights of Nature builds on the Green Party’s current commitment to support the development of an international law of ecocide.
- The Center for Earth Jurisprudence will hold the third in its Protecting our Common Home webinar series on 16th The focus will be “Florida Constitutional Revision Committee and a ‘Community Rights’ Amendment Protecting Human and Ecological Health”.
From Tom Brenan, Gaia Foundation