Churches and activists engage on business and human rights

Churches and activists engage on business and human rights
By agency reporter
4 Dec 2013

Three human rights activists from indigenous communities in Guatemala and Colombia have been presenting cases highlighting human rights violations by multinational corporations in their countries, including instances of land grabbing, at the Second United Nations Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights.

The group has been representing the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at the forum which took place from 2 to 4 December 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Pablo Ceto and Miguel de Leon, who come from Guatemala’s Ixil ethnic communities, together with a Colombian human rights lawyer German Ospina, will bring evidence of human rights violations due to hydroelectric plants operated by the Italian multinational company Enel.

According to various reports, the government of Guatemala, through their inability to continue land seizure in Ixil indigenous communities have hampered the ownership of indigenous people towards their ancestral land.

Ospina represents three thousand Afro-Colombians living in the Anchicayan River located in Valle del Cauca in Colombia. Through his work cases of environmental contamination in this area and destruction of natural resources due to hydroelectric power plants, which have affected the lives of thousands of Afro-Colombian people, are being highlighted.

More:
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/19588