[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10964]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        THE GLOBAL CRISIS OF KILLINGS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on July 13, Global Witness, a widely 
respected international nongovernmental organization that reports on 
corruption and other criminality involving the exploitation of natural 
resources, released a report entitled, ``Defenders of the Earth--Global 
Killings of Land and Environmental Defenders in 2016.''
  According to the report, 2016 was the worst year yet for 
environmental and land rights defenders. At least 200 were killed in 
what has become a global crisis, pitting local communities, 
particularly impoverished indigenous groups, against multinational 
mining, logging, agribusiness, hydroelectric, and hydrocarbon companies 
that are often supported with foreign financing.
  The report says the number of such killings is increasing, up from 
185 in 2015 and spreading to new countries--24 in 2016 compared to 16 
in 2015. However, because many of these attacks occur in remote areas, 
the actual number is likely much higher. The number of killings is also 
only part of the appalling story. Death threats, arbitrary arrests, 
sexual assaults and other forms of abuse, and misuse of the legal 
process are among the tactics used to try to intimidate environmental 
activists.
  Often, when faced with peaceful resistance to the construction of 
dams that displace people from their homes and to logging and mining 
operations that destroy the forest and pollute the water, the response 
of the companies, backed up by local security forces, is to accuse the 
protestors of being ``against development,'' try to divide them with 
bribes and promises that are later broken, and eventually to silence 
them with force. The companies get rich and move on, local officials 
collect payoffs, the electricity or minerals are exported to cities or 
other countries, and the people whose land was destroyed or water 
contaminated are immeasurably worse off.
  As one activist, who has for years spoken out against Latin America's 
largest open pit mine, told Global Witness, ``[t]hey threaten you so 
you will shut up. I can't shut up. I can't stay silent faced with all 
that is happening to my people. We are fighting for our lands, for our 
water, for our lives.''
  The reports states, ``[t]he battle to protect the planet is rapidly 
intensifying and the cost can be counted in human lives. More people in 
more countries are being left with no option but to take a stand 
against the theft of their land or the trashing of their environment. 
Too often they are brutally silenced by political and business elites, 
while the investors that bankroll them do nothing . . . Almost 40 
percent of those murdered were indigenous, as land they've inhabited 
for generations is stolen by companies, landowners or government 
officials. Projects are typically imposed on communities without their 
free, prior and informed consent, backed up by force: police and 
soldiers are suspected perpetrators in at least 43 murders. Protest is 
often the only option left to communities exercising their right to 
have a say about the use of their land and natural resources, putting 
them on a collision course with those seeking profit at any cost.''
  The report notes the criminalization of these courageous activists, 
including in the United States. ``They are often painted as criminals, 
facing trumped-up criminal charges and aggressive civil cases brought 
by governments and companies seeking to silence them.''
  It is the responsibility of governments to defend the lives and 
rights of their citizens. Instead, too many governments are violating 
their own laws and aiding and abetting in these attacks and 
assassinations--either by the conduct of their security forces or by 
their failure to conduct credible investigations of these crimes and to 
bring those responsible to justice.
  Honduran activist Berta Caceres is but one example. Instead of 
protecting her, the government and the company treated her like a 
criminal. She was killed for having the courage to defend the rights 
and territory of the Lenca people. In Honduras alone--a country the 
size of Kentucky with just 8 million people--more than 100 
environmental defenders have reportedly suffered similar fates since 
2009, for which no one has been convicted and punished.
  I hope this report will spur governments, companies, foreign banks, 
and international financial institutions to take far stronger action to 
respect the territorial rights of affected people, to defend freedom of 
speech and association, to protect the environment, and to uphold the 
rule of law.

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