The Press Office had the honour to interview the 2024 Right Livelihood Laureate Anabela Lemos about her work at Justica Ambiental and her objectives in the near future.
Please share with us about your background and role in Justica Ambiental in empowering communities to stand up for their rights and demand environmental justice?
I have been an environmental justice activist ever since I remember. We started an environmental movement in my neighbourhood to stop a cement kiln from incinerating obsolete pesticides. We won. From there, we realized there was a need to support communities and protect the environment due to Mozambique’s model of development: opening the door to foreign investment, bringing with it land grabs, human rights violations, loss of livelihoods, wars. We realized that communities that lived in rural areas did not have a voice about what happened in their lands, were not aware of their rights, but they were well aware of what they wanted or did not want. We started working together, supporting their struggle, and the importance of defending the right to say no.
How was being recognised as Right Livelihood Award 2024 and how did it help with your activities and mission to boost urgent and long-term social change? How are you benefiting with all this visibility? How could we support your cause?
The recognition of the importance of our work, by such a prestigious prize, in a country like Mozambique that our leaders do not care about our people, do not care about the needs of peasants or fisherfolk or rural communities (the majority of our population) and the urgency to protect our forests, our rivers and sea for the future generations and planet is very important. JA has faced a lot of criticism for the work we do, we have been labelled as anti-development or anti-patriotic, apart from the constant threats and intimidations. So this prize shows that we are doing the right thing, that to fight for a better world is the right thing to do, and gives us strength to carry on. And above all, this recognition and the visibility it brings means more protection for JA team and especially the community activists who are on the frontlines resisting corporate land grabs and denouncing human rights violations.
You can support our cause by helping to further raise the voice of mozambicans who are every day affected by fossil fuel and extractivism megaprojects, demanding an end to fossil fuel exploration, stopping false climate solutions such as mega-dams, REDD, industrial tree plantations, and joining us as we demand an end to corporate impunity by advancing strong and binding legislation to regulate transnational corporations at national, regional and international level. You can help us concretely by using the network of Right Livelihood to have more people supporting and endorsing our declarations, disseminating our case studies and amplifying our demands especially in the global north, where most of these companies are headquartered. We have international campaigns around specific projects, to expose and denounce violations (such as the campaign to stop the gas projects in Cabo Delgado, and the campaign against the Mphanda Nkuwa dam in the zambezi river), where we work in collaboration with partners from across the world to expose the violations and demand respect for mozambican peoples’ right to say no. Joining these campaigns as a partner, and be part of the strategizing and collective work, is a great way to help us even more.
What is your opinion on the importance of human rights education in the field of development of projects and environmental justice?
It’s hugely important, many of the problems we currently face in the world could be avoid if people understood the importance of Human rights and incorporated them in their work. A good education is the basis of your development as a person. If we learn to value human rights more than we value money or material possessions, if we place life and dignity at the center of decision making, we will be able to build different societies and preserve mother nature.
What are the most important challenges ahead in the field of Human Rights and Democracy in the world? Could educational programmes like ours at the Global Campus of Human Rights contribute to create a safe space for discussion on these challenges?
Education programs should start from an early age, deepening the knowledge as you grow. People will be more aware of human rights, and will have better tools to fight against violations, but only education won’t be able to stop these violations.
In the field of human rights and democracy, we need to understand that human rights violations are happening at the hand of powerful transnational corporations, in collusion with corrupted government elites. Without binding laws to regulate these entities, human rights violations will continue to happen systemically. Just like all across my country, Mozambique. Companies from France, Portugal, Italy, Japan, China, USA, and many others are wrecking our climate and peoples lives. We need binding legislation to regulate transnational corporations and stop this pattern of impunity. This is a critical loophole in international law that urgently needs to be addressed.
Could you give a message to the students, professors, alumni, partners and staff of the Global Campus of Human Rights?
Don’t be afraid to support and raise radical ideas. Fight against human rights violations and defend the universality of human rights.
For more information contact our Communications and Press Offices:
Elisa Aquino – Isotta Esposito – Francesca Sante – Carlotta Brunetta
pressoffice@gchumanrights.org - communications@gchumanrights.org
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