[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 138 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 138

  Highlighting the risks that environmental defenders face around the 
 world and commending their role in defending human rights, combating 
    climate chaos, and supporting a clean, healthy, and sustainable 
                              environment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2023

 Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Booker, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. 
Padilla, and Mr. Cardin) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Highlighting the risks that environmental defenders face around the 
 world and commending their role in defending human rights, combating 
    climate chaos, and supporting a clean, healthy, and sustainable 
                              environment.

Whereas, around the world, environmental defenders--individuals exercising their 
        human rights to try to peacefully protect an area or the natural 
        resources of such area from negative environmental impact by an ongoing 
        or proposed activity--face persecution from government, private sector, 
        and criminal actors, including restrictions on free speech and assembly, 
        criminalization, civil lawsuits, surveillance, harassment, verbal, 
        cyber, and physical intimidation, sexual assault, and targeted murder;
Whereas at least 1,733 environmental defenders have been reported killed since 
        2012, with at least 200 killed in 2021;
Whereas at least 1,179 environmental defenders have been reported killed in 
        Latin America and the Caribbean since 2012, making it the region with 
        the highest number of environmental defender deaths and persecution 
        overall, exemplified by the cases of--

    (1) Homero Gomez Gonzalez, who was forcibly disappeared and found dead 
in Mexico with reported signs of torture after fighting to protect the 
wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly from illegal logging;

    (2) Bruno Pereira, an advocate for the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil's 
Amazon, who received threats and was murdered for standing up to illegal 
logging, mining, and drug trafficking;

    (3) Berta Caceres, a Lenca Indigenous woman, whose murder was ordered 
by the Honduran company, Desarrollos Energeticos SA, for organizing 
protests that led to the cancellation of the proposed Agua Zarca Dam; and

    (4) the Q'eqchi Mayan Indigenous community, which faces defamation, 
violent evictions, harassment, and assault by the Guatemalan National Civil 
Police Force for peacefully protesting the operations of the Fenix mine and 
growth of palm plantations on their territory;

Whereas at least 427 environmental defenders have been reported killed in Asia 
        since 2012, and governments in the region have also targeted 
        environmental defenders in other manners, including--

    (1) the Government of Vietnam, which has sought to silence 
environmental activist Dang Dinh Bach through imprisonment;

    (2) the Government of the Philippines, which has enacted red-tagging 
campaigns to turn public sentiment against organizations like the Kalikasan 
People's Network for the Environment; and

    (3) the Government of the People's Republic of China, which has falsely 
charged environmental activists Li Genshan, Zhang Baoqi, and Niu Haibo for 
illegally hunting or killing wildlife;

Whereas the Government of Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of Parties (COP) of 
        the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, while 
        government security forces held environmental activists Ahmed Amasha and 
        Seif Fateen in extended, arbitrary pretrial detention for joining a 
        terrorist group after forcibly disappearing and torturing them for 
        exercising their rights to free expression;
Whereas Ali Ulvi Buyuknohutcu and Aysin Buyuknohutcu of Turkiye won lawsuits 
        against mining companies who illegally operated pollution-creating 
        quarries, but were shot and killed by gunmen with alleged ties to those 
        companies;
Whereas fossil fuel companies, mining operations, agribusiness plantations, and 
        mega dams are major causes of environmental destruction and are also 
        being used to drive communities from their homes and their lands;
Whereas rampant corruption and weak rule of law enables those targeting 
        environmental defenders to operate with impunity; and
Whereas civil society is, and should be, a powerful voice for individuals 
        experiencing and at risk from the effects of worsening climate chaos, 
        including Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral rights, lives, traditional 
        lands, and cultural practices are disproportionately threatened by 
        climate chaos: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commends and expresses solidarity with environmental 
        defenders as crucial members of civil society who defend both 
        human rights and the environment and play a crucial role in 
        tackling climate chaos;
            (2) strongly condemns the targeting, harassment, and 
        unlawful detention of any individual or group for exercising 
        their rights of free association and expression, including 
        advocacy on environmental matters, reporting and seeking 
        information on environmental violations and abuses, or 
        cooperation with local, regional, national, or international 
        mechanisms;
            (3) welcomes the relevant principles of the Rio Declaration 
        on Environment and Development, done at Rio de Janeiro 1992, 
        and United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/
        40/11 (2019) as global advancements in recognizing the crucial 
        role that environmental defenders play as human rights 
        defenders;
            (4) welcomes the relevant principles of United Nations 
        General Assembly Resolution A/RES/76/300 (2022) as advancing 
        the global conversation towards the importance of a clean, 
        healthy, and sustainable environment as an international human 
        right;
            (5) welcomes the United States Government's assertion 
        during its time as Summit Chair of the Ninth Summit of the 
        Americas that environmental defenders should not be denied 
        access to basic environmental information, public participation 
        in proposed projects that would affect their communities, or 
        justice as they seek legal redress from government authorities;
            (6) urges the United States Government to consult and 
        cooperate in good faith with Indigenous Peoples who are 
        concerned with the environment in order to obtain the free, 
        prior, and informed consent of such Indigenous Peoples, without 
        coercion, prior to the approval of any project affecting the 
        lands, territories, religious practices, or other natural and 
        cultural resources of such Indigenous Peoples;
            (7) welcomes the work of the Department of State-led 
        Interagency Working Group, which invites more than 1000 
        officials across more than 20 Federal agencies, to reduce 
        violence against environmental defenders and to properly 
        monitor and address the expanding nature and cases of 
        persecution against environmental defenders;
            (8) calls for the President to prioritize the global 
        leadership of the United States in tackling reprisals against 
        environmental defenders through a whole-of-government approach 
        in collaboration with foreign governments, multilateral 
        organizations, and civil society organizations;
            (9) urges the Department of State to integrate concerns 
        about environmental defenders in all appropriate engagements to 
        exert diplomatic pressure and speak out publicly in countries 
        where environmental defenders are at risk;
            (10) requests that the Department of State establish a 
        position focused on environmental defenders within the Bureau 
        of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor;
            (11) requests that the United States Agency for 
        International Development prioritize the finalization of an 
        independent accountability mechanism and the establishment of a 
        position to integrate protection of environmental defenders 
        across broader environmental, economic growth, and human rights 
        and democracy programming in order to better achieve its 2022-
        2030 Climate Strategy, which seeks to promote a safe and secure 
        political environment at all levels of governance for 
        Indigenous Peoples, human rights and environmental defenders, 
        and local communities to participate in climate actions and the 
        protection of civil society and environmental defenders, 
        including land and resource rights for effective climate 
        outcomes;
            (12) encourages the United States International Development 
        Finance Corporation to improve transparency through its 
        independent accountability mechanism, conduct due diligence 
        with partners, and engage in local consultation processes based 
        on free, prior, and informed consent;
            (13) encourages the United States Government to use its 
        voice and vote within international financial institutions to 
        ensure that United States taxpayer dollars do not support 
        individuals, foreign governments, or private sector entities 
        that adversely affect the environment or target or expose to 
        harm persons who speak out against such individuals and 
        entities;
            (14) encourages the United States to use its leadership in 
        the United Nations Human Rights Council to ensure that the 
        intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations 
        and other business enterprises with respect to human rights 
        that was adopted by United Nations Human Rights Council 
        Resolution A/HRC/RES/26/9 (2014), creates an internationally 
        legally binding instrument that supports and protects human 
        rights defenders, including environmental defenders;
            (15) calls for responsible conduct of United States 
        companies, financial institutions, and investors in relation to 
        the freedoms and rights of Indigenous communities and other 
        environmental defenders, particularly in the agribusiness, 
        fossil fuel, mining, and hydroelectricity sectors; and
            (16) calls for the United States to use its influence as a 
        member of the Parties to the United Nations Framework 
        Convention on Climate Change to push for the Conference of 
        Parties to only take place in countries that have and actively 
        encourage a thriving civil society and have taken concrete 
        actions to tackle climate chaos, which stands in contrast to 
        the selection of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates who were 
        selected as hosts in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
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