Defending territories, Defending our lives

Protecting human rights and the environment in Asia Pacific through system change. Every day, peoples and communities across the world come together to take collective action, often fighting for their collective rights, for dignity and for access to resources and their sustainable use.

Yet many of these Defenders of Territories and Human Rights are being threatened, suppressed or in extreme cases killed. In the last few years, Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific’s member groups’ staff, activists and supporters have been beaten, sued, kidnapped, bankrupted, defamed, jailed and murdered for campaigning for environmental justice. To keep Defenders safe we need both systemic change and the introduction of practical policies at the local, national and international level, and also within civil society organisations.