EarthRights International 2020-2024

Since 2020, Sida has supported EarthRights International (ERI) and its Global EarthRights Defenders (ERD) program. An earth rights defender is someone who, individually or collectively, promotes human and environmental rights, which includes rights to food and clean water and to a healthy and safe environment. The long-term goal of the program is that rights defenders have or are on the path to justice through the court system, advocacy and other methods. The partner works directly with rights defenders and their communities, through capacity building and networking, to ensure that they are equipped to stand up for their rights. Work with and for defenders often takes the form of precedent-setting transnational litigation, which also influences international bodies to adopt policies that protect defenders. The organization also contributes by providing environmental defenders and their communities with knowledge about human rights, local laws and processes for environmental protection. The program is implemented in the Amazon (Brazil, Colombia, Honduras and Peru) and to a lesser extent in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but also includes global advocacy. The ERD has four specific goals: 1) PREVENT - Attacks and criminalization against earth right defenders, particularly indigenous and women defenders, are reduced in the Amazon regions and globally through strengthened laws and policies, and increased access to rapid-response communication. 2) PROTECT – Defenders, particularly women and indigenous defenders, have increased protection from attacks and criminalization through greater access to training, support and strategizing spaces. 3) REVEAL – Earth rights defenders have increased access to actionable information on the root causes behind attacks and criminalization against them. 4) REDRESS – defenders in the Amazon region and globally have increased access to legal defence against criminalization and remedies for earth rights abuses committed by corporations and governments.