GAGGA at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights and COP25

Different partners of the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA) have been taking part in two important international advocacy spaces with the aim of bringing forward their voices, proposals and agendas in relation to women´s rights and environmental justice. This includes the 2019 United Nations (UN) Forum on Business and Human Rights, that took place from the 25-27 November in Geneva, Switzerland and the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP 25) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCCC), which is taking place from 2-13 December in Madrid, Spain.

Women in action on Mining in Asia (WAMA) have a strong presence at the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights
The UN Forum on Business and Human Rights is an annual space for dialogue between governments, businesses, civil society, local groups and collectives as well as international organizations on the trends, challenges and good practices in preventing and addressing business-related human rights impacts. The theme for the 2019 forum was “Time to act: Governments as catalysts for business respect for human rights”.

The WAMA Consortium, a collaboration of groups working on indigenous peoples and natural resource rights with women’s rights and feminist organizations in Asia, attended this forum with the aim of bringing forward three clear demands to the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Business and Human Rights as well as business and government leaders present. These demands were:

Global, state and corporate accountability for the crimes
against women, children and Mother Earth;
To all their governments, it is time to take action and deliver legally responsible commitments that uphold gender equality and international human rights principles;
That the 2019 Forum ends with a legally binding treaty that is inclusive of their demands.
In this forum, WAMA was also able to launch the publication “Resource Guide for Monitoring Extractives for Women Environmental and Human Rights Defenders” (WEHRDs)”. This guide serves to support community-based women environmental and human rights defenders to conduct basic investigations of impending or actual mining operations in their communities and to look at the negative mining impacts of these operations, with particular attention to the violations and impacts on women.

To access the resource guide please click here.

GAGGA joins COP25 to demand climate justice, centered on human rights, gender equality and respecting planetary boundaries

The COP 25 is an annual convening organized to assess the progress of the UN climate change process. It was going to be hosted in Santiago, Chile, however due to the socio-political crisis that the country has been facing, which has resulted in the severe restriction of peoples’ right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, the Chilean government cancelled the hosting of this event. This initial cancellation, followed by the move from host country (from Chile to Spain) has put a lot of pressure on national, regional and global climate justice movements to be present at the official UN space. Many of these movements have joined the demand to respect human rights in Chile, including the recognition and need for changes to those government policies that are contributing to the climate crisis, and in many cases have decided to still hold the alternative spaces and forums in Santiago, such as the Cumbre de los Pueblos.
Various partner organizations of GAGGA, including the Fondo Centroamericano de Mujeres (FCAM), Both ENDS, FRIDA, AIDA, Fondo de Mujeres del Sur, Plurales and others, who are coming from a diversity of experiences, approaches and actions, were able to attend the COP25 in Madrid, Spain and have organized different sessions to demand the need for climate justice, centered on human rights, gender equality and respecting planetary boundaries as well as more gender-responsive climate finance.

Young, indigenous and rural women from different regions have been and will be presenting their experiences in leading the development of just and sustainable solutions that help their communities mitigate or adapt to climate change. Through their own work and in collaboration with other actors in their community, countries and regions, they are showing how the role and participation of women in environmental action is effective and should be recognized.

We look forward to hearing from our partners about their engagement in these spaces and next steps.

In case you would like to know more about GAGGA´s involvement in the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights, please contact Maaike Hendriks, Both ENDS (M.Hendriks@bothends.org).

In case you would like to know more about GAGGA´s involvement in the COP25, please contact María Estelí González, FCAM (mesteli@fcmujeres.org).