EarthRights International
EarthRights is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that combines the power of law with the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment, which we define as “earth rights.” We take legal action against perpetrators of earth rights abuses, train activists, and work with communities to demand meaningful and lasting change.
THE POWER OF LAW MEETS THE POWER OF PEOPLE IN DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
PEOPLE. POWER. JUSTICE.
EarthRights is a growing global team of community activists, campaigners, and legal strategists who challenge powerful institutions that violate peoples’ rights and destroy our planet for profit.
We are a team of community leaders, campaigners, and legal strategists who challenge the powerful corporations, governments, and financial institutions that violate peoples’ rights and destroy our planet for profit.
We rise in defense of communities and the planet, using the power of law and the power of people in pursuit of justice.
OUR WORK
Serving frontline communities to avert climate catastrophe and hold corporations accountable for the harms they impose on people and the planet.
CLIMATE JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Supporting communities on the front lines of the climate crisis in their organized resistance against destructive fossil fuel projects.
The climate crisis presents one of the greatest global threats to human rights the world has ever faced, and communities worldwide are already experiencing significant repercussions. Unfortunately, fossil fuel corporations are disproportionately contributing to the climate crisis and must be held accountable for the damage they have caused. EarthRights supports the global movement to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources by pressuring governments, corporations, and financial institutions to stop building and supporting new fossil fuel projects that do not adequately account for the climate damages they will cause.
As protectors of forests and critical ecosystems, Indigenous peoples are at the heart of the struggle against climate change. Protecting their land rights, particularly against fossil fuel and large hydropower projects and deforestation, must be a critical component of an effective climate change strategy.
EarthRights is working to ensure that fossil fuel companies and governments respect frontline communities’ rights and are held accountable for climate-related damages inflicted upon them.
EARTH RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Working with environmental defenders to protect their rights, resources, and livelihoods.
An earth rights defender is someone who, individually or collectively, promotes human and environmental rights — “earth rights.” These include our right to food and clean water and our right to a healthy and safe environment. It also includes the corresponding rights that enable us to protect our environments, such as the right to speak out and act to protect our lands and livelihoods and the right to participate in the development decisions that affect us.
As democratic norms retreat and corrupt corporate interests become increasingly dominant, global civic space is shrinking worldwide. Deep-rooted corruption has become the “operating system” in countries where governmental institutions elevate the needs of corporations and financial institutions over the people. Threats against earth rights defenders come in many forms, but they are often driven by corporations and financial institutions seeking to control land and natural resources.
As the global movement to save the planet from the worst effects of climate change intensifies, communities and activists on the front lines of opposition to fossil fuels and agribusiness are coming under increasing pressure and attack. Hundreds of such people are murdered each year for defending their land and the environment.
EarthRights works with frontline communities, providing legal defense to earth rights defenders who have been criminalized, physically attacked, abused, or otherwise prevented from protecting their communities. We proactively address the root causes of attacks on defenders, including corruption and irresponsible land and fossil fuel development and repression from security forces, while seeking to strengthen policies to protect earth rights defenders and civic space.
CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
Challenging the systems that allow corporations to exercise power and claim rights without accountability.
Around the world, corporations are gaining power—at the expense of people and the planet. Corporate power has seized substantial control of governments in many countries, including the United States, severely limiting the voices of those whose interests might diverge from those of the elites. Corporations have succeeded in manipulating judicial systems, making it easier to use the courts as tools of repression while frontline communities struggle to seek justice. As communications and advocacy increasingly occur online, corporations and governments have begun to use sophisticated digital tools to conduct surveillance of activists and spread misinformation that undermines social movements. In the United States, corporate lobbies have limited access to courts and remedies for victims of corporate human rights abuses.
With our Cancel Corporate Abuse campaign, EarthRights works alongside communities to use their power and the power of the law to end abusive policies and practices that threaten human dignity and natural resources.
Through community-led organizing and strategic litigation in courts worldwide, we put maximum pressure on some of the worst violators of human and environmental rights, such as Nestle, Cargill, and Chiquita Brands International.
When corporations, governments, and financial institutions get a blank check to violate human and environmental rights, we all pay the price. People lose their lives, and communities lose control over their natural resources. By uniting together, we can put an end to corporate abuse.
SUPPORT EARTHRIGHTS
YOUR SUPPORT HELPS US IN THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
We have challenged some of the world’s most powerful corporations and institutions for taking advantage of communities and vulnerable populations. We are a team of community leaders, campaigners, storytellers, and legal strategists who rise in defense of people and the planet.
Your donation will train, defend, and protect earth rights activists who are speaking their truth to power, fighting to preserve our communities, and guarding the planet from abuses caused by fossil fuels, government inaction, and corporate greed.
DONATE: https://earthrights.org/support-us/donate/
Join the worldwide movement to achieve climate justice, protect earth rights defenders, and demand corporate accountability. Your contribution will help us keep up our important work.
EarthRights is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all monetary donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by tax laws.
If you have any questions about giving, please contact Kayla Eaton, Development Communications Coordinator: kayla@earthrights.org or 202-466-5188 #106
CONTACT EarthRights International:
WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE (ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE)
1612 K Street, NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
Tel. (202) 466-5188
Fax: 202-466-5189
Email: infousa@earthrights.org
MEKONG OFFICE
Chiang Mai, Thailand
infoasia@earthrights.org
AMAZON OFFICE
Calle José Román 145
San Isidro, 15073
Lima, Peru
Tel. +51 941 242 447 | infoperu@earthrights.org
