In US and Ecuadorian courts, farmers have sued DynCorp (a private contractor the US and Colombian government authorised under a plan to eradicate drug production) for its widespread use of toxic anti-drug sprays which caused local farmers severe physical and property damage.
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In Brazil, prosecutors have filed homicide charges against top executives of BHP Billiton, a mining giant, for the collapse of one of their dams which destroyed communities and killed 19 people.
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Families of victims who had been killed by the Peruvian army took a case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights complaining that an amnesty law, that prevented investigations of the killings, violated the right to life. The IACtHR held that the right to life required the Peruvian government to investigate killings by the state […]
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After hearing a claim brought by a Chilean environmental organisation, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights ruled the right to access information was itself a human right which the State was obligated to provide access to information in all but exceptional cases. This paved the way for greater transparency across the Americas.
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Brazil, with a federal government system has federal ombudsman bodies. The first police ombudsman in Brazil was established in the state of Sao Paulo in 1995, with the purpose to enhance internal controls of the actions of the state police. Under federal law (Legislative Decree No. 150, 2009) the Ombudsman position must occupied by a […]
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Example of a general oversight body that can investigate police and other public bodies where suspected of misconduct or human rights abuse.
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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has condemned the Argentine state for violating the right of indigenous communities to their cultural identity, a healthy environment and adequate food and water, that tribunal reported on Thursday. The court, based in the Costa Rican capital of San José, ordered specific action for the restitution of those rights, […]
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In the midst of a global pandemic, government ministers stressed the need to build a sustainable, resilient economy for the long term. Chile has committed to peaking its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, in an updated national plan presented virtually to the UN climate chief on Thursday. The plan, by the country currently presiding over […]
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Summary: Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election represented a new ultraconservative right-wing rise to power that radically dismantled environmental policies. Brazil’s Minister of Environment has been previously convicted for illegally favouring mining companies. In the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul alone, there are more than 150 mining projects that may leverage the […]
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Example of a complaint to the IFCCAO regarding a mining project in Colombia.
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