Issue: ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION

Climate catastrophe leaves millions malnourished in Zambia

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In recent years Zambia has faced a series of extreme weather events, amplified by climate change. In 2024, the drought crisis has led the Zambian government to repeatedly declare a national emergency.  Drought has directly impacted agriculture: out of the 2.2 million hectares of maize planted nationwide, approximately one million hectares have been destroyed, affecting over a million farming households. Earlier floods, including last year, have already caused a 25 per cent decline of maize production. As maize is a staple crop, its loss threatens food supplies and aggravates the already difficult conditions faced by many rural and urban communities.

“Human dignity has been compromised as people struggle to feed themselves. The affected people do not have food, they lack water for household use and are constantly looking for food aid to feed themselves,” said FIAN Zambia Coordinator Vladimir Chilinya at a side event of the UNFCCC Climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

According to a recent analysis by the Zambian Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, close to 10 million people are exposed to the adverse effects of drought, including over 6.5 million who are significantly affected. More than four million children have been screened for severe and moderate acute malnutrition. It is estimated that more than 100,000 children urgently need treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Similarly, more than 110,000 pregnant and lactating women are in need of nutritional support to prevent worsening health outcomes.

The Zambian Government has repeatedly declared a state of emergency. Due to the scale of the problem, however, it is impossible for the government to fully address the situation. Those countries with historic responsibilities for the climate catastrophe must comply with their extraterritorial obligations and ensure that human rights are protected from climate-related harm, and that affected people are provided adequate remediation and reparation for loss and damage.

A transition to agroecology is one way forward in adapting to and mitigating the crisis.

“The government of Zambia must urgently support farmers in their agroecological farming which reduces climate risks while supporting resilience of food systems,” says Valentin Hategekimana, Africa coordinator at FIAN International.

There is an urgent need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels to reduce the devastating impacts of the climate catastrophe. Carbon market mechanisms, such as those recently pushed through by the COP29 presidency, are false solutions and a dangerous distraction from states fulfilling their obligations to provide adequate remediation and reparation for loss and damage.

More ambitious funding commitments and implementation are urgently needed. States must turn existing pledges into real and adequate finance flows for Global South countries. The fund for loss and damage must ensure mobilization of funds and direct access for communities and not lead to further debts being incurred.

For more information, please contact Valentin Hategekimana hategekimana@fian.org or Sabine Pabst pabst@fian.org

CESCR: Rural women call for justice and an end to eco-destruction in Honduras

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Lily Mejía from FIAN Honduras and a community leader from the Golf of Fonseca region will meet the Committee. They will also participate in an interactive dialogue on the impact of loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights at the Human Rights Council’s 57th session.  

Rising sea levels and recurring floods

The community leader accompanied by FIAN Honduras is from a small fishing community whose livelihoods and right to food and nutrition have been severely affected by the adverse impacts of climate change and eco-destruction. Rising sea levels and recurring floods are destroying people’s homes and businesses and endangering people’s health and lives. The sea is slowly eating up the village: in some parts, up to 100 meters of coastline have been lost in little more than a decade (see diagnostic on impact of climate change). Extreme weather events are also placing limits on fishers’ ability to go out to the sea to fish, sometimes reducing their catch and income to zero. The community also has to cope with pollution from industrial shrimp farming – an export industry strongly promoted by the Honduran government and operating with little government scrutiny or oversight.

A combination of rising water temperatures and contamination have caused fish stocks to decline, with native fish and clams disappearing entirely or becoming rare. All of this has a dramatic impact on the right to food and nutrition of community members who depend on these for their livelihoods and for subsistence and have few alternatives for income generation. The situation is similar in other coastal communities. As a consequence, many people are emigrating and families are torn apart. 

Government action is urgently needed to protect and support rural communities in the Gulf of Fonseca and other regions of the country in the context of climate change and environmental pollution. Currently, the government is notably absent, with communities left to themselves. In addition to the environmental challenges faced, the communities lack access to natural resources and technical and financial support as small-scale artisanal food producers and small entrepreneurs, while at the same time they face discrimination and exclusion with regard to markets and social protection systems. These and other human rights challenges as well as the proposals by rural communities – and especially rural women – are summarized in FIAN Honduras and FIAN International’s submission to the CESCR for the review of Honduras.

For more information contact Laura Michele: michele@fian.org

China UPR: Cease overseas mining and power plant construction and urgently address human rights violations

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Instead, China must urgently focus on providing remedies for communities harmed by Chinese-backed mining and power plant projects and prevent future abuses and violations of the right to food and nutrition.

Despite President Xi Jinping's 2021 pledge to support green and low-carbon energy development in developing countries, and China's promise to halt the construction of new overseas coal power projects, numerous local communities worldwide continue to endure the devastating impacts of Chinese-backed coal mines and thermal plants. These projects compromise their access to food, nutrition, and related rights, revealing a glaring inconsistency between China's commitments and the harsh realities on the ground.

Coal mining projects frequently involve forcible land acquisitions, leaving affected communities with no choice but to sell their agricultural land, often without adequate compensation. In Sahiwal, Pakistan, communities faced a coercive government land acquisition process and many farmers were forced into selling their agricultural lands to make way for a Chinese-funded coal-fired power plant. Multilayered pollution is already affecting local food production — damaging agricultural land and crops, contaminating water used for irrigation and domestic purposes, and altering food consumption patterns.

In parts of Serbia, people can no longer grow food for their own consumption and are forced to rely on supermarkets, straining household incomes. The severe pollution of air, water, and soil caused by coal thermal plants has taken a significant toll on human health in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Authorities did not do anything to stop the pollution generated by the old coal power plant and ash disposal sites. The pollution will continue for decades to come without any consequence for the authorities, while people continue to fall ill,” says Denis Zisko from the Aarhus Center.

FIAN’s joint submission to the UPR highlights glaring irregularities in community consultation and environmental impact assessment procedures. In Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, authorities renewed an environmental permit for the Tuzla 7 thermal power plant, despite complaints from civil society groups that emission values were not prescribed in line with the European Industrial Emission Directive during the impact assessment process. This exemplifies flagrant violations of national laws and policies.

“Although the Chinese side was aware of the fact that it could not deliver the equipment produced by General Electric – which was listed as a technical obligation in the contract between China Gezhouba Group Company Limited and Elektroprivreda BiH – it still put pressure on BiH authorities to continue with the project and insisted that this equipment be replaced by an alternative one, produced by a Chinese company,” laments Denis Zisko from Aarhus Center in BiH.

“This shows the contractor's complete lack of interest in withdrawing from the Tuzla 7 project and thereby fulfilling China’s pledge to support green and low-carbon energy development in developing countries.”

In Serbia, the Kostolac B3 in Drmno was constructed without legally obtained permits.

“We have challenged this before the Aarhus Convention, which proves that none of the coal capacities can be legally constructed. This situation highlights how China, in collaboration with Serbian authorities, is systematically undermining legal security in Serbia,” says Zvezdan Kalmar from the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development (Centar za ekologiju i održivi razvoj, CEKOR).

While this leniency in enforcing existing policies and laws by national governments is concerning, China's actions constitute a breach of its human rights obligations beyond its borders (extraterritorial human rights obligations). China has also disregarded the 2023 recommendations (Concluding Observations) of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which specifically called for a halt in ongoing financing for coal-fired plant construction abroad and for China to ensure that business entities are held accountable for violations of economic, social, and cultural rights, with particular attention to peasants’ land rights, environmental impacts, and expropriation.

These recommendations echo demands made by several states during the UPR China review, including the Marshall Islands (suspension of ongoing financing for coal-fired power plants), Ecuador (measures to ensure that companies and financial institutions operating abroad respect human rights in all their activities), and Mexico (implementation of the recommendations on business and human rights made to China by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).

Signed:

Aarhus Center BiH

Center for ecology and sustainable development, CEKOR

FIAN International

Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee PKRC

For more information or media interviews, please contact Tom Sullivan, FIAN International Communication and Campaigns Coordinator: sullivan@fian.com

Israel must stop using starvation as a weapon of genocide

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No one in Gaza has access to sufficient food and water. Some, including young children, have already starved to death, agricultural systems have almost collapsed, and famine is imminent.

In a new briefing note Israeli occupation is using starvation as a weapon of genocide against Palestinians, FIAN and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) – a Palestinian member of La Via Campesina – highlight the connections between use of starvation as a weapon, human rights, food sovereignty and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.

Starvation as a tool of genocide

Additionally, it focuses on how deliberate actions such as starvation and destruction of food and health infrastructure violate the human rights of Palestinians and endanger the rights of future generations.

“Israel’s intentional destruction of food systems, blockades on humanitarian aid and the deliberate starvation of a population are not only violations of the right to food,” says FIAN International Secretary General Sofia Monsalve.

“They also constitute a war crime, as starvation is implemented as a tool of genocide.”

Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure and crops have been decimated. Severe fuel restrictions have crippled water infrastructure and electricity supply, leaving only limited power from solar panels and generators. Food stocks are almost nonexistent. Livestock farmers are facing substantial losses, with high mortality rates among animals due to bombings and lack of fodder.

Fisheries are an essential food source for Palestinians in Gaza and fishing was already heavily restricted before Israel’s genocidal war began in October. Most of Gaza’s fishing fleet has since been destroyed by the Israeli occupation forces, which have imposed a complete blockade of the sea for Palestinians, firing on boats and even individual fishers.

Denial of food a violation of international law

Peasants and small-scale farmers face land theft, water scarcity, and restrictions on market access, hindering food production and exacerbating food insecurity. Israeli settler colonial expansion in the West Bank of Palestine further disrupts Palestinian livelihoods, with Israeli forces frequently targeting agricultural lands and infrastructure.

It is impossible to realize human rights and exercise food sovereignty in a context of settler colonialism and occupation.

“Our struggle for food sovereignty is interconnected with the struggle for our national sovereignty and self-determination,” says Yasmeen El-Hasan, UAWC International Advocacy Coordinator.

“If we had control over our land and natural resources, Palestine wouldn’t be facing issues of food insecurity and starvation.”

The intentional denial of food to the Palestinians in Gaza violates international human rights law and criminal law and can constitute a genocidal act under international law. Israel's attacks have destroyed infrastructure, leading to famine-like conditions and a public health catastrophe. The recent massacre of people queuing for flour in the Gaza Strip is a stark example of a disturbing pattern of lethal attacks on Palestinians seeking assistance.

Permanent ceasefire

Palestinian children in Gaza face malnutrition and lack of access to healthcare, with long-term consequences for their physical and mental health. Children have already died of starvation. The destruction of the environment and natural resources – including through the use of white phosphorus bombs – will have lasting effects on future generations, perpetuating intergenerational poverty.

The international community must act now to ensure a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Sanctions and arms embargoes should be used to pressure Israel to comply with international law and ensure the unconditional provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Justice requires a dismantling of systems of oppression: an end to the siege on Gaza and an end to the Israeli settler colonial occupation of Palestine.

Affirming food sovereignty as a guiding framework, for ensuring the realization of the human rights of current and future generations, this briefing asserts that Palestinians must have sovereignty over their land. Palestine must be free from occupation in order for justice to prevail. It is incumbent upon the international community to support this process of Palestinian liberation. 

Download here: Israeli occupation is using starvation as a weapon of genocide against Palestinians

DRC must protect South Kivu communities impacted by Chinese mining and logging

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Four Congolese civil society groups submitted a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) parallel report to the UN Human Rights Council today highlighting human rights abuses linked to mining and illegal logging by Oriental Resources Congo, Congo Blueant Minéral, BM Global Business, Yellow Water Ressources, New Oriental Mineral and Regal Mining.

The Chinese companies’ activities are fueling land grabbing, pollution and the forced eviction of communities in the Wamuzimu chiefdom in Mwenga territory, South Kivu – a region long affected by protracted armed conflict. The communities have been subjected to multiple human rights abuses affecting their right to food and nutrition, right to land, right to health and right to work, to name a few.

Congolese civil society groups – including Front Commun pour la Protection de l’Environnement et des Espaces Protégés, Association des Mamans Tonde-Tonde, Association des Femmes et Écologie and Société Civile Environnementale du Congo – denounce the weak response and corrupt practices of DRC authorities which have allowed the Chinese companies to plunder the country, at the expense of local communities.

“The companies must compensate families whose land they have plundered in complicity with customary chiefs and provincial and national authorities,” said one community member, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons.

“They should build wells in all the areas where they have polluted river water so that households can have high-quality water … and protect children from water-borne diseases.”

Many in the affected communities have lost their livelihoods and call on the DRC government to address the human rights abuses caused by the Chinese companies. These have occurred in complicity with Congolese authorities at all levels who have failed to comply with their human rights obligations.

“The Congolese government must ensure that the rights of those affected by the six Chinese companies are restored. It must also ensure that the companies are regulated and hold accountable those involved in human rights violations and abuses,” says Valentin Hategekimana, Africa Coordinator at FIAN International.

The actions of these companies compound an existing emergency in the DRC, which has the highest number of people in the world facing acute food insecurity in hunger hotspots, according the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

Read the full UPR parallel report on the DRC in French here.

For more information, please contact Tom Sullivan sullivan@fian.org or Clara Roig Medina  roig@fian.org

Shrimp farms threaten livelihoods of small-scale fishers

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FIAN International is working with fisherfolk representatives in Tamil Nadu to highlight the situation in two small fishing communities, in Chandrapadi and Chinnakottaimedu, who depend on traditional boat fishing.

A new case study Impact of Shrimp Aquaculture on Fisher People’s Right to Food and Nutrition in India: A case study from two fishing hamlets in Tamil Nadu describes how the encroachment of shrimp farms since the early 1990s has led to severe environmental degradation. Mangroves have been cleared and tidal flats dredged for artificial canals, disrupting once thriving ecosystems.

Livelihoods devastated

“This is a prime example of why aquaculture is a false solution to food security. Its expansion has devastated the lives and livelihoods of fisher peoples around the world and particularly in Asia,” says FIAN International Case Work and Research officer Yifang Tang.

“Aquaculture is diverse. Even seemingly small-scale projects can harm the environment and have a huge impact on the right to food and nutrition of local fishing communities.”

The reckless expansion of shrimp farming has been linked to water contamination, degradation of soil fertility, loss of livelihoods, denial of access to fishing grounds, adverse health effects, water shortages and social and cultural disruption.

The Tamil Nadu government has failed to enforce existing laws and protect the communities’ rights.

“We demand that government agencies monitor the closure of the farms based on the Coastal Regulation Zone of 2019 and existing court orders on shrimp industry since 1996,” says Jones T Spartegus from the Tamil Nadu Coastal Action Network, referring to a court ruling this week, the latest in a series ordering the closure of illegal shrimp farms.

“We also urge the Tamil Nadu government to redistribute the coastal common lands to the fisher people’s villages to secure and protect the ecology.”

The human toll of shrimp farming

Contamination of water bodies through the discharge of untreated chemicals has led to a reduction in the size and quality of fish and shellfish, threatening the communities’ main source of food in Chandrapadi and Chinnakotaimedu.

The loss of farmland to shrimp farms has also disrupted local food systems, forcing families to buy – rather than grow – their food, which affects household incomes. The denial of access to fishing grounds and the loss of traditional fishing techniques has caused economic hardship for fishing communities.

The communities have also experienced adverse health effects, including allergies and skin diseases, which they believe are linked to shrimp farm pollution.

The state government's promotion of shrimp farms through financial incentives and its failure to enforce its own regulations underscores the urgent need for action to protect the human rights and livelihoods of these fishing communities.

Download here – Impact of Shrimp Aquaculture on Fisher People’s Right to Food and Nutrition in India: A case study from two fishing hamlets in Tamil Nadu.

For more information or media interviews please contact Clara Roig Medina roig@fian.org or Tom Sullivan sullivan@fian.org

Cajamarca peasants continue struggle against South Africa mining giant

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The peasants have succeeded in suspending the mining operations temporarily, through a popular referendum, but the company still insists on laying siege to the territory. 

In 2023, AngloGold Ashanti relinquished two mining titles, which reduced the percentage of the concessioned territory but it still retains almost a fifth (17.9%) of the Cajamarca territory.  

Lawsuits filed by the company against the state in order to continue operating are still pending.  

In the UN's sights 

Grassroots organizations defending Cajamarca sent a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, who responded by contacting the Colombian State, to AngloGold Ashanti Colombia, to the State of South Africa and to AngloGold Ashanti South Africa.  

In these communications the special rapporteur asked for information from the states and the company on the La Colosa case and emphasized the importance of protecting human rights and the right to participation. These submissions were jointly endorsed by several other UN special rapporteurs.

Diverting attention

This year, AngloGold Ashanti announced that its headquarters will move from Johannesburg to London and that its main listing will move from Johannesburg to New York.  

By leaving South Africa all progress in the company's auditing in that territory would be put on hold, and it would have to start again from scratch in London, where the company would have a clean record.

In addition, Sara Moreno, from Centro Siembra, a social organization dedicated to the defense of this territory, explains that “with a primary listing in New York, AngloGold Ashanti is seeking access to the world's largest gold capital fund. While mining companies carry out these operations to continue strengthening their projects, there are no effective and binding measures to ensure that they protect human rights in the territories where they operate”. 

This case illustrates the urgent need for a UN binding treaty to hold transnational corporations to account. An effective UN binding treaty would help to protect people and the planet and focus on prevention, liability, access to remedy, international cooperation and implementation mechanisms, including in conflict affected areas thereby closing gaps in protection and regulation.

For more information or media interviews please contact Amanda Cordova Gonzales cordova-gonzales@fian.org or Clara Roig Medina roig@fian.org

Photo: Robinson Mejía

Coal Power Ecological Destruction in the Western Balkans

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The Western Balkans has some of Europe‘s highest air pollution levels. Both countries source most of their energy from fossil fuels, especially domestically produced coal, with little regard for its impact on local communities.  

A recent expansion has been funded by controversial Chinese-backed investments, often without environmental impact assessments and despite China’s commitment to cease funding coal power.

This has exposed local communities and farmers to pollution, land erosion and loss of livelihood.

Many have fought for years to be re-located or fairly compensated. They have lost their land and livelihoods, seen their houses and farm buildings crumble around them and their health deteriorate.

In a new report Coal Power Ecological Destruction in the Western Balkans FIAN International and local civil society groups highlight the harm inflicted by coal power and call for justice for affected communities and for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to phase out coal power in line with their international human rights obligations, the Paris Agreement, and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. 

The report was compiled with the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development (Centar za ekologiju i održivi razvoj, CEKOR) in Serbia, the Center for Environment (Centar za životnu sredinu, CZZS), and the Aarhus Center (Aarhus Centar) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

English full report, Executive Summary, and Key Recommendations.

Serbian full report, Executive Summary, and Key Recommendations. 

Bosnian full report, Executive Summary, and Key Recommendations. 

Governments must halt coal power ecocide and make amends in Western Balkans

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The Western Balkans has some of Europe‘s highest air pollution levels. Both countries source most of their energy from fossil fuels, especially domestically produced coal, with little regard for its impact on local communities.  

A recent expansion has been funded by controversial Chinese-backed investments, often without environmental impact assessments and despite China’s commitment to cease funding coal power. 

Lost land and livelihoods

This has exposed local communities and farmers to pollution, land erosion and loss of livelihood.

Many have fought for years to be re-located or fairly compensated. They have lost their land and livelihoods, seen their houses and farm buildings crumble around them and their health deteriorate. 

“It is high time the authorities take actions to protect the interest of the population, rather than those of the polluters,” says Denis Žiško from Aarhus Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In a new report published today Coal Power Ecological Destruction in the Western Balkans FIAN International and local civil society groups highlight the harm inflicted by coal power and call for justice for affected communities and for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to phase out coal power in line with their international human rights obligations, the Paris Agreement, and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. 

The report was compiled with the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development (Centar za ekologiju i održivi razvoj, CEKOR) in Serbia, the Center for Environment (Centar za životnu sredinu, CZZS), and the Aarhus Center (Aarhus Centar) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sinking village

It investigates the impacts of coal mining and related activities throughout the coal cycle on people’s right to adequate food and nutrition and to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. There is a particular focus on local struggles and resistance to the impacts of coal power in three locations: the villages of Klicevac and Drmno, near Drmno mine and Kostolac power plant in Serbia; Kamengrad mine and Kamengrad village, in the municipality of Sanski Most in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Ugljevik power plant and coal mine, also in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The mine is destroying not only their livelihoods but also their properties,“ says Zvezdan Kalmar from CEKOR, about the impact of Drmno mine on the nearby village of Klicevac in Serbia.

“We expect that in a few years time … part of the village will actually sink,“ he adds.

Testimonies gathered from local people and civil society groups highlight clear indications of ecological destruction. These include polluted and disrupted groundwater supplies, which leads to waterlogging, water shortages and diminished agricultural yields. There are also reports of plant diseases, flooding and subsiding of homes and farm facilities and increased instances of respiratory illness, allergies, and other severe health issues.

Laws must be respected

Despite this, the governments of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have yet to act. There is a shocking lack of transparency, participation, and local democracy in both countries combined with repeated failures to conform to national and international legal frameworks. Local communities are rarely consulted and there is little evidence of credible environmental impact assessments. 

“Policies and laws are there to be respected and duly followed. What is the point of having them if they are simply ignored? Says Dragan Osti? from the Center for Environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We need to keep our environment clean, alive, and for people and communities to be able to live on their land for as long as they wish to.”

FIAN International joins local civil society groups, CEKOR, CZZS, Aarhus Center, and the communities in demanding urgent action from the governments of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovia to address these serious rights violations. They must establish proper remedy mechanisms to compensate and resettle affected people, stop support to coal-fired power and set ambitious coal phase-out goals in line with their international human rights obligations and the Paris Agreement.

They should also do more to safeguard, respect, and restore biodiversity, with a particular focus on the human right to adequate food and nutrition, and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Read in English the full report, the Executive Summary, and the Key Recommendations.

Read in Serbian the full report, the Executive Summary, and the Key Recommendations. 

Read in Bosnian the full report, the Executive Summary, and the Key Recommendations. 

For more information or media interviews please contact Clara Roig Medina, FIAN International Digital Communications: roig@fian.org

EU must act to stop Balkan coal power ecocide

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The Western Balkans has some of Europe’s highest air pollution levels. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina source most of their energy from fossil fuels, especially domestically produced coal, with little regard for its impact on local communities. 

Most of the coal power plants were constructed during the Yugoslavia era, but a recent expansion of this polluting energy source has been funded by controversial Chinese-backed investments, often without environmental impact assessments and despite China’s committment to cease funding coal power.

Local communities have fought for years to be re-located or fairly compensated for the impact of pollution and land erosion from mines and power stations. They have lost their land and livelihoods, seen their houses crumble around them and their health deteriorate due to coal-related diseases..

In a new briefing paper for EU institutions, “EU must act to stop coal power ecocide in Western Balkans”, FIAN International and local civil society groups highlight the harm inflicted by coal power and call for justice for the affected communities, including resettlement, compensation and the implementation of the EU's Green Agenda for the Western Balkans.

“Apart from its impact on climate change, coal power jeopardizes internationally agreed human rights, notably the right to a healthy environment, the right to water, the right to health and the right to adequate food and nutrition,“ says FIAN International's Angelica Castañeda Flores.

 

“This ecological destruction shows how closely ecological health is intertwined with human life and wellbeing.” 

FIAN International has met affected people in several locations dominated by largescale coal mining and highly polluting coal power plants, notably Klicevac and Drmno villages, in eastern Serbia; Sanski Most in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Ugljevik power plant and coal mine in the country’s northeast. 

“Most people living next to the mine are demanding resettlement and to get arable lands … to receive real compensation, to live somewhere else, to save their children, their lives and their health from the impossible living conditions,” says Zvezdan Kalmar from Serbia’s Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development (CEKOR).

 

 

Ecological destruction  

Testimonies, combined with observations by FIAN International, point to clear signs of ecological destruction, with devastating consequences for local people.  

This includes waterlogging, water shortages and lower agricultural yields. Air and water pollution and changes to wind patterns from large scale excavations were also reported, as well as crop diseases, damage to people’s houses and farm buildings and increased instances of respiratory illness, allergies and other serious health issues.   

Despite this, the governments of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have yet to act. There is a shocking lack of transparency, participation, and local democracy in both countries combined with repeated failures to conform to national and international legal frameworks. Local communities are rarely consulted and there is little evidence of credible environmental impact assessments.  

This is a clear breach of the states’ international human rights and environmental obligations and commitments including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.  

FIAN International joins local civil society groups, CEKOR, CZZS, Aarhus Center in Bosnia and Herzegovia, and the communities in demanding urgent action from the governments of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovia and the EU to address these serious environmental and human rights violations and to establish proper remedy mechanisms to compensate and resettle affected people.   

These two EU candidate countries must fully respect their national and international environmental and human rights obligations and commitments. And the EU must do more to address the sizeable challenges related to coal power in the region, and to implement the European Union Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, not least by making any future EU funding conditional on demonstrating respect for environmental and human rights.  

Read the briefing paper here.

For more information or media interviews please contact Tom Sullivan, FIAN International Communication & Campaigns: sullivan@fian.org / WhatsApp: +46 73 046 2753