“Beyond the Challenge: Women, Mining and Human Rights”

November 26-29, 2009
Guatemala

The international conference “Beyond the Challenge: Women, Mining and Human Rights” is the first public effort of rural and indigenous women defenders to raise awareness of gender-based abuse and discrimination issues they face in their struggle to have their rights for self-determination, land and livelihood recognised by governments and corporations.

It is hosted by the Latin American Mining Monitoring Programme (LAMMP) and the Union of Latin American Women (ULAM) a network of Latin American women affected by mining.

Coinciding with the International Day of Women Human Rights Defenders (November 29th) this ground-breaking conference will bring together for the first time women activists and representatives from ULAM partner organisations as well as experts in the field of human rights, gender mainstreaming, sustainable development and corporate social responsibility.

The conference will provide a unique opportunity for networking, information sharing, and the discussion of issues that are key for women struggling with mining developments in their communities; concerns that so far have been deliberately excluded from the mining agenda by corporate stakeholders. A key component of the conference will be a series of training workshops aimed at identifying risks as well as reducing the vulnerability and increasing the capabilities of women human rights defenders to respond to challenges and dangers associated with their work.

Background

There is no doubt that in Latin America all human rights defenders face serious challenges, but anti-mining activists are particularly vulnerable and face brutal repression given the industry’s prominent role as a revenue source in the region.

Concerned by the increase of violent conflict in mining affected communities and efforts to silence human women activists that challenge such abuses, LAMMP developed a regional database for monitoring and compiling evidence of human rights violations against women (the LAMBDA Project). Thanks to this innovative effort, for the first time the extent of the link between mining and the abuse of women’s human rights can be fully appreciated.

Despite the perception that mining does not impact on women, rural and indigenous women are at the forefront of mining opposition. But their environmental activism carries great personal risks. Little is known about the specific difficulties these courageous activists face in their work and the gaps in their protection. Because of their low status within the community, rural and indigenous women activists are particularly vulnerable to intimidation and violence from pro-mining groups. Poverty and isolation from national and international support networks makes them easy targets for multiple forms of abuse.

Focus

The conference will address:

• Emergence of rural and indigenous women as environmental rights activists. Implications for democracy, equality and human rights activism in Latin America.
• Regional trends underlying increased regulation of NGOs. Impact on women’s groups and their human rights work.
• Gender and cultural obstacles identified through monitoring and documentation of HR abuses against women’s activism.
• Identification of security risks and gaps in women’s protection. Strategies and tools which can be used to address issues of safety and protection.

Including first-hand accounts from Latin American women environmental activists:

• State persecution against Women Defenders of Mother Earth (Ecuador).
• Corporate abuse: persecution of indigenous women activists (Guatemala).
• Lawless communities: between small-scale mining and violence (Venezuela).
• Invisible and unpunished: the harassment and sexual abuse of women environmental activists (Peru).

The Conference also includes a series of training and capacity-building sessions in the following areas:

• Legal protection mechanisms in the Americas
• Safety and protection of at-risk human rights defenders
• Access to international protection mechanisms and remedies.

Target Audience

• Human rights defenders and lawyers
• Women's rights organisations
• Environmental organisations
• Rural and indigenous women affected by mining
• Local, national and international media
• Corporate social responsibility experts
• ULAM partner organisation representatives
• Academia and researchers.

Conference Objectives

The conference seeks to open up spaces for exploring the specific challenges faced by rural and indigenous women as defenders of environmental rights and to identify international support and protection for urgent cases.

Specifically the conference will:
(1) Provide evidence of the links between mining conflict and violence against women human rights activists;
(2) Ensure among a wide range of national and international bodies a deeper, shared understanding into the extent and impact of persecution on women activists as well as the specific safety issues they face;
(3) Help to raise the profile and legitimacy of the environmental work women activists do, and facilitate effective alliances and links between them and international organisations; and
(4) Expose a range of corporate and state abuses that are gaining ground across Latin America and which constitute serious obstacles to human rights activism in mining.

For further details (including sponsorship opportunities and conference program), please download the following document

or visit LAMMP

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About LAMMP & ULAM

LAMMP

The Latin American Mining Monitoring Programme is a London-based charity (Reg No 1080801) committed to improving the lives of Latin American women affected by mining. Our vision is a future where women’s voices and presence influence corporate practice and mining policy-making. Our objectives are to empower rural and indigenous women in their efforts to ensure that mineral resources are exploited in a sustainable way, with a gender perspective and respecting their human rights.

ULAM

The Union Latino Americana de Mujeres (Network of Latin American women affected by mining) provides rural and indigenous women with a platform for working together and learn from each other about advocacy and the defence of economic, social and cultural rights. As the first and only regional platform designed and led by the activists themselves ULAM is a model of service to rural and indigenous women concerned with the impact of mining.
Through ULAM, women are able to raise their profile as defenders of human rights. Most importantly, women are able to take an active interest in issues of safety and to formulate protection plans whenever they security is compromised.