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Opinion

21 Oct 2014

Author:
Phil Bloomer, Executive Director, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

The Front Line: Kailash Satyarthi, Alejandra Ancheita, and protecting human rights defenders

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Two important announcements for human rights defenders across the globe have occurred recently.   Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and Alejandra Ancheita, Founder and Executive Director of ProDESC, was selected as the 2014 Martin Ennals Award Laureate.  Both are staunch defenders of human rights and both have worked relentlessly to protect human rights from the impacts of business.

Satyarthi, from India, set up Bachpan Bachao Andolan in the 1980s to free children from exploitation.  The organisation proactively identifies and intervenes in cases of child labour, provides rehabilitation and education for victims, and has led the Global March Against Child Labour.  To date, Satyarthi is credited with saving over 80,000 children from bonded labour and slavery.  Satyathi was awarded the prize along with Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist, "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education".

Satyarthi’s work has raised the issue of child labour in football production with multinational companies; liberated children from bonded labour in sweat shops, restaurants and hotels; and highlighted the use of children in mining mica, a key ingredient in make-up. In regards to business activities Satyathi has said:

“One of the foundations of healthy economy is sustainable business. For businesses to in turn ensure sustainability it is imperative that they consider their responsibilities towards people and the environment with the utmost diligence.  Corporate houses must ensure that their supply chains are free from child labour and other labour rights’ violations.  Similarly decent working conditions for adults are non-negotiable.”  

Ancheita founded ProDESC, a Mexican NGO which aims to protect economic, social and cultural rights.  She has worked to ensure transnational justice for human rights violations, working with indigenous communities, migrant workers, and other marginalised groups.  The Martin Ennals Award is “given to Human Rights Defenders who have shown deep commitment and face great personal risk.”

The work of Ancheita and ProDESC focuses heavily on the impacts of transnational corporations.  Last year, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre released a video about ProDESC as part of our “In Their Words” series. ProDESC has supported communal land owners protesting against mining companies; engaged with multinationals on alleged water contamination and displacement; and pioneered the accountability of businesses in Mexican courts.

The presentation of these awards to Satyarthi and Ancheita shows that the work of human rights defenders focusing on business practices is being taken seriously internationally, but it also shines a spotlight on the injustices and risks that many human rights defenders have to endure.

In awarding Ancheita, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Chair of the Martin Ennals Foundation, said: 

“Alejandra Ancheita’s selection by the Jury highlights the array of forces facing human rights defenders.  Local governments and courts in working with powerful economic interests have led to public defamation and physical attacks.”

Both Ancheita and Satyarthi, like many human rights defenders, have undertaken this work at great cost and personal risk.

Ancheita’s father was a human rights defender who, after receiving several death threats, died in suspicious circumstances.  She has also faced threats and some of her colleagues have been killed.  In 2013, Ancheita and ProDESC were subjected to what Front Line Defenders described as a “defamation campaign”, which saw several media articles attacking ProDESC, and Ancheita personally.  Around the same time, the organisation’s offices were broken in to.

Earlier this year, Satyarthi appeared in a documentary on the modern slave trade.  During filming he described having his leg and other parts of his body broken whilst trying to rescue children.  He also explained that his colleagues have been assaulted and in two cases killed.

The prominence of these awards, particularly the Peace Prize, place Ancheita and Satyarthi in a much deserved spotlight and this international attention brings with it safety.  The selection of these human rights defenders also provides a timely opportunity to highlight the situations of other activists working to protect human rights against the impacts of business activities.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre regularly receives reports of threats and intimidation towards human rights defenders.

Andy Hall, British labour rights activist and researcher, is facing legal proceedings for defamation and computer crimes in Thailand.  Natural Fruit made the complaints in February 2013, after Hall exposed abuses in its factories through a report published by NGO Finnwatch called “Cheap Has a High Price”.  The alleged abuses included violence against employees, forced overtime, use of underage labour, and confiscation of passports of Myanmar migrant workers.  The criminal charges carry a maximum of eight years in prison, and civil damages could total over $10 million. Hall’s research was also subject to a three part investigative television series titled “The Trafficking Research that Damaged Thailand”.

There has been an international outcry from NGOs who have demanded the legal action against Hall be dropped, and the case has been raised with the Thai government, the UN, the EU parliament, and the British government.  United Nordic, a group of food wholesalers from northern Europe, strongly advocated for constructive dialogue rather than legal action.  However, Hall is still facing these proceedings; a defamation trial has ended with a verdict expected at the end of the month, and a second trial began this week.

In July this year several activists were arrested by Niger authorities following a press conference where they criticised a deal between the Niger government and Areva, the French nuclear company. The activists were later released.  Along with other organisations, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre called on the Niger and French government to take steps to ensure respect for human rights defenders. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre also raised the issue with Areva.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre has also recently spoken to the sponsors of the European games in Azerbaijan, where Human Rights Watch has described “an unprecedented repression of independent voices”. BP, one of the sponsors contacted, stated that its activities were in conformance with Azerbaijani law and it did not feel it should seek to influence government policy. For more in-depth coverage see this blog.

In recent years we have seen the introduction of legislation which severely restricts human rights NGOs’ ability to receive funds from foreign donors. Recent developments in India have left activists fearful that similar practices could be introduced. The impact of this sort of policy on human rights defenders could be catastrophic, including on activists like Satyarthi.

It is clear that human rights defenders are hugely important to the protection of human rights, and that both governments and companies have the ability ensure they are allowed to operate properly, in safety. So when Satyarthi and Ancheita pick up their well-deserved awards, hopefully this international attention will give new impetus to governments and companies to do more to safeguard human rights defenders across the globe.

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