Via-info-en May 2019

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Chevron Case: An open letter to Ecuador
by La Via Campesina 23 May '19

23 May '19

Social movements and Civil Society Organisations send an open letter to Ecuador on the Chevron case The Chevron case [1] in the Ecuadorian Amazon is paradigmatic in the struggle against corporate impunity. It's also linked to the struggle against ISDS, and for the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights. The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity [2], allied with members of the European Campaign "Rights for People, Rules for corporations - Stop ISDS" [3], as well as other allies at the international level, in coordination with the Union of those affected by Chevron - Texaco in Ecuador (UDAPT) [4], carried out several actions worldwide. On 21st May #AntiChevron Global Day of Action more than 280 organisations, networks, Unions and movements worldwide, in representation of more than 280 millions of people, addressed this letter to the Ecuadorian Government on the Chevron case. ------------- LETTER TO ECUADOR ON THE CHEVRON CASE [5] Mr. Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés President of the Republic of Ecuador _21 May 2019_ Regarding the Chevron-Texaco Case in Ecuador MR. PRESIDENT, We who belong to many international civil society social organizations and networks who are committed to human rights and social, economic and environmental justice are writing to you because we are deeply concerned about the Chevron-Texaco case in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. The case is irrefutable proof of the way the system whose purpose is to ensure the impunity of transnational companies all over the world works. After 25 years of trials, and although a judgement requiring Chevron (formerly known as Texaco) to pay US$9,500 million to repair environmental damage, has been ratified at every level of the Ecuadorian judicial system, it has never been enforced [6]. To avoid complying with it, Chevron withdrew all of its assets from Ecuador. Because they did that, the men and women affected by the environmental disaster had to have recourse in foreign courts (in Argentina, Brazil and Canada) to have the judgement recognised and enforced, but so far, they have had no success. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of those affected continue suffering serious health effects. The cancer rate in the contaminated area reaches up to 8-10 times the national average. Chevron left 880 pits full of crude oil which are still there, the rivers are still full of hydrocarbon sediment and polluted by the crude oil spills in Amazonia, which is one of the most biodiversity rich regions in the world. The damage has been left unrepaired for more than 40 years. Corporate crime goes on. Even worse, in 2009 Chevron sued the Ecuadorian state at the International Court in The Hague using the Investor State Dispute Settlement Mechanism (ISDS). The oil company also sought economic compensation and asked that the arbitration panel interfere in the Ecuadorian justice system itself. In August 2018, the arbitration panel ruled in favour of Chevron and sentenced Ecuador to pay a still unknown sum to the transnational company. Moreover, it ordered the Ecuadorian government to prevent the judgement of the Ecuadorian courts from being enforced. These provisions are unconstitutional and inapplicable in Ecuador. If the government were to execute the arbitration ruling, it would be violating its own constitution, wiping out the rights of the 30,000 people affected by Chevron and openly favouring that company's interests. This decision would therefore establish a dangerous precedent at the international level which could encourage similar arbitration tribunals, putting them above domestic law courts and thus undermine the legal bases of the rule of law. Mr. President, today your government is heading the process that is working towards drafting a binding UN treaty on transnational corporations with respect to human rights [7]which could put an end to corporate impunity. These negotiations are taking place in the Human Rights Commission. It is worth pointing out that this treaty is a response to a demand from millions of people who belong to hundreds of social and environmental organizations, unions and affected communities around the world. Today, popular mobilization against the ISDS is growing [3]. Proof of this is that recently more than half a million signatures from European Union citizens were delivered to the Vice President of the European Commission asking that the European Union reject the ISDS and support the UN Binding Treaty and other regulations to force transnational companies to respect human rights. Mr. President, we remind you that the aforementioned case is not an exception. Chevron has been denounced for negative social and environmental impacts in other countries [8], for example, their fracking projects in Argentina have seriously affected Mapuche indigenous communities. What is more, oil companies like Chevron bear a large part of the responsibility for climate change [9] which today has caused hundreds of thousands of victims, driven thousands from their homes - climate refugees - and is also thrusting the whole planet into the worst environmental crisis ever see. Mr. President, we tell you that we cannot understand the direction that your government is taking currently with regard to this case. WE REMIND YOU THAT IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY STATE TO PROTECT ITS POPULATION'S HUMAN RIGHTS FROM THE VIOLATIONS OF THIRD PARTIES. WE DEMAND THAT YOU NOT GIVE IN TO THE PRESSURE FROM THE UNITED STATES OR FROM CHEVRON BUT PUT THE RIGHTS OF ECUADORIAN MEN AND WOMEN FIRST AS THE CONSTITUTION OF ECUADOR DEMANDS. We ask you not to intervene in the court case between the affected communities (who are grouped together as UDAPT - Union of those Affected by Chevron-Texaco's Oil Operations) and the transnational company but that, on the contrary you give your support and protection to the indigenous and rural communities, respecting, protecting and guaranteeing their rights over the interests of international companies. SEE HERE THE LETTER AND THE 280 ENDORSEMENTS [5] Links: ------ [1] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/chevron-impunity-in-ecuador/ [2] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/ [3] https://stopisds.org/ [4] http://texacotoxico.net/ [5] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Carta_Ecua… [6] http://texacotoxico.net/en/the-case/ [7] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/binding-treaty-un-process/ [8] https://ejatlas.org/featured/chevronconflicts [9] http://climateaccountability.org/carbonmajors.html

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Via Campesina E-newsletter, April 2019
by La Via Campesina 17 May '19

17 May '19

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|* Via Campesina E-newsletter, April 2019 To Donate to the Peasant Movement, click here [1] This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort of organisations, which are part of_ La Via Campesina_ movement worldwide. TO SUBSCRIBE CLICK HERE [2] #17APRIL: AROUND THE WORLD This April, scores of mobilisations and demonstrations around the world called for an urgent implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants by ushering in agrarian reform. This article looks at the highlights of these direct actions and demonstrations that took place during the month. READ MORE [3] OTHER NEWS FROM APRIL 2019 We, the youth of La Via Campesina, gathered in Thiès, Senegal, from 25-28 April, express our solidarity with the peasant youth of all those peoples who are being attacked by capitalism, imperial power, agribusiness and transnationals, and particularly with the youth of Palestine, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Venezuela and Mozambique. READ THE THIÈS DECLARATION [4] La Vía Campesina stood in support of the organized sectors of Colombian society that mobilised on the 25th of April, during a National Peasant, Indigenous, Afro-descendent, Worker and Popular Strike. READ OUR PRESS RELEASE [5] _ALSO READ:_ "The only struggle that is lost is that which is abandoned", FINAL DECLARATION [6] from the III Solidarity Mission to Colombia Global Network against Corporate Impunity condemns the arrest of Julian Assange. The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity expresses its deepest concern at the arrest of Julian Assange on April 11, 2019, at the Embassy of Ecuador in London and calls on the UK government to demand his freedom and non-extradition to the United States. READ THE STATEMENT [7] DECADE OF FAMILY FARMING: 'PEASANT AGRICULTURE MUST BE THE FOCUS', SAYS VIA CAMPESINA IN DERIO READ THE FULL TEXT [8] of the intervention made by Joan Brady, the International Coordination Committee member of La Via Campesina, during the closing session of the VI Global Conference on Family Farming, March 2019, Derio. YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE AUTONOMY OF OUR MOVEMENT ------------------------- As a supporter who has contributed financial resources to La Via Campesina, and as an activist who joins us on the streets and in the fields, your support is always welcome and put to good use. You can renew your contribution to La Via Campesina by clicking here [1]. [9] This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort of organisations, which are part of_ La Via Campesina_ movement worldwide. To subscribe to our monthly newsletter click here [2] To unsubscribe from the distribution list click here [2] For questions or comments, email LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org [10] TV: www.tv.viacampesina.org [11] To subscribe to this newsletter - Click Here [2] Links: ------ [1] https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/viacampesina [2] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en [3] https://viacampesina.org/en/rights-of-peasants-and-agrarian-reform-what-the… [4] https://viacampesina.org/en/thies-declaration-in-solidarity-with-young-peas… [5] https://viacampesina.org/en/%EF%BB%BFla-via-campesina-supports-the-national… [6] https://viacampesina.org/en/the-only-struggle-that-is-lost-is-that-which-is… [7] https://viacampesina.org/en/global-network-against-corporate-impunity-conde… [8] https://viacampesina.org/en/decade-of-family-farming-peasant-agriculture-mu… [9] https://viacampesina.org/en/donations/ [10] http://www.viacampesina.org [11] http://www.tv.viacampesina.org

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Latest Nyeleni Newsletter on "Agroecology: Real innovation from and for the people" is available online
by La Via Campesina 06 May '19

06 May '19

AGROECOLOGY: REAL INNOVATION FROM AND FOR THE PEOPLE 6 MAY 2019 The crisis in the industrial food system is impossible to ignore. For over a decade, study after study has validated the assertion of the Food Sovereignty movement in 2007 - that the corporate food system destroys life. Now Governments are anxious to find 'innovations' in agriculture that can overcome this. They are hoping to be saved by a new Green Revolution(...). On the other hand Agroecology within the framework of Food Sovereignty is also gaining widespread recognition and is increasingly being promoted as an approach to transform agriculture and food systems and address the challenges we face. The Food Sovereignty movement is exposing how the discourse on innovation is actually a way to depoliticise the debate on what a new food system should look like - by not setting any criteria on what innovation must deliver on. In this way Agroecology is put together with GMOs, new gene breeding technologies, 'climate-smart agriculture' and 'sustainable intensification'. (...) In this edition, we look at the elements of Agroecology as defined by small scale food producers that make it the only real innovation to transform our food and farming. _Click here to download the English [1]edition or_ read it directly on the website at www.nyeleni.org [2] ! Links: ------ [1] http://www.nyeleni.org/ccount/click.php?id=133 [2] http://www.nyeleni.org/

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Via-info-en May 2019