Judge’s Statement: Ruth Nyambura, Political ecologist, African Ecofeminists Collective (Kenya)
Judge’s Statement: Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch (USA)

Manari Ushigua (Sápara leader), Braulio Gutierrez (Yasunidos), and Belén Páez (Executive Director, Pachamama Foundation) presented the case of the criminalization of defenders of Mother Earth that is occurring in Ecuador. Presenters detailed the ruthlessness of actions being taken against Defenders.  Yudith Nieto, Juan and Byron Parras (USA-Houston TX, T.E.J.A.S) presented the case demonstrating the devastating effects of Fossil fuels and chemical contamination on communities in Ecuador and around the world.  The 2nd International Rights of Nature Tribunal in Lima, Peru was dedicated to José Isidro Tendetza Antun, Shuar leader from the Condor Mine region of Ecuador. Only days before the Tribunal commenced in December 2014, José Tendetza’s lifeless body was found bound and gagged in a river.

Ruth Nyambura, Political ecologist, African Ecofeminists Collective (Kenya)

I want to start by saying when it comes to criminalization, it’s very clear from the stories that we’ve heard from activists that we need to imagine ways to protect the rights of defenders in ways that are holistic – that cater to the different spaces that they occupy. It is something that we’ve acknowledged that it’s not one of the things that we have included in the Declaration. How do we talk about the rights of Mother Nature if we don’t talk about the people who are talking in the forefront and defending Mother Nature? And not just talking about them but talking about the bodies that are weaponized, the black and brown bodies in Africa in Asia, in Latin America, in the global south and the global north, when you talk about Canada and the tar sands in Canada, when you talk about activists in California and activists in Houston. So it’s very clear that we need to imagine the bodies and the ways to protect the bodies that stand in front of the frontlines that are always getting the spaces.

The issues of criminalization of these defenders:

We also need to loo