December, 02 2016, 01:15pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kate Colwell, Friends of the Earth U.S., (202) 222-0744, kcolwell@foe.org
Friends of the Earth International Stands in Solidarity With the Water Protectors at Standing Rock: Water is Life, and We Stand for Life.
LAMPUNG, INDONESIA
Friends of the Earth International stands in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock: Water is Life, and we stand for life.
We, Friends of the Earth International, the largest federation of grassroots environmental justice organizations from 75 countries, gathered at our Biennial General Meeting 2016 held in Lampung, Indonesia. Friends of the Earth International lends our voice to the international outcry that condemns the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline - a cry of resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and supported by the tribal governments of over 280 other tribes and allies from all over the world.
This growing global resistance opposes the Dakota Access pipeline because the pipeline trajectory is cutting through Native American sacred territories and unceded Treaty lands, and because it threatens air and water resources in the region and further downstream.
The Dakota Access pipeline, which would extend over 1000 miles across several U.S. states will threaten communities, farms, Tribal land, sensitive natural areas and wildlife habitat. If built, it would pass within just half a mile of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, destroying sacred sites and posing a devastating public health threat to the Tribe's drinking water in the case of a spill - a case which history has taught us is not a question of "if", but "when." In short, the Dakota Access pipeline would constitute an existential threat to the Tribe's culture and way of life.
Opposition to the pipeline continues to grow across the world. Since last April, an ever growing number of Native water protectors and their thousands of allies have converged peacefully at Standing Rock in the pipeline construction area to halt further construction of the project. In response to this peaceful, prayerful resistance, police from multiple U.S. states and agencies, members of the U.S. National Guard, and armed private security forces working for project sponsors have used military equipment, tactics and weapons to intimidate, assault, arrest and otherwise commit grievous human rights violations against water protectors and their allies. Indiscriminate use of attack dogs, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, tazers and mace are reported, while journalists covering the assault have been silenced and jailed. The violence unleashed on the protesters by security forces has already left hundreds injured. Water protectors were attacked with water cannons used in sub-zero temperatures, leading to life-threatening situations, and one protector faces a possible amputation of her arm after being hit with a concussion grenade. Peaceful demonstrators who have been arrested have been subjected to inhumane treatment that involved, among other things, being locked up naked, or cramped without food and warmth into dog kennels.
These abuses are sickening and intolerable - and are the current manifestation of a deplorable and violent history. The United States is a nation whose history is built on the systematic and brutal dispossession of indigenous peoples and the systemic and brutal exploitation of common resources for the profit of the few at the expense of the many. The current state-sanctioned violence in support of this pipeline reveals yet again how the exploitation of land, water, and other natural commons is inextricably linked to the exploitation and dispossession of the people who depend upon and safeguard our Mother Earth.
We therefore condemn the racist violence being waged upon the water protectors at Standing Rock, the criminalization of dissent, and the wanton use of force by both public agencies and private interests;
We call upon the United States executive branch and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw permits and bring an end to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, in keeping with the demands of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation;
We call on the financiers of the Dakota Access pipeline, including European, Asian, and U.S. banks*, to immediately cease financing Dakota Access LLC and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company LLC, and publicly recognize and affirm the rights of indigenous communities to withhold consent from projects affecting their communities, in keeping with the principles of Free Prior and Informed Consent, as established under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and other international standards;
And, we express our solidarity with the tribal governments who have come together in prayer and nonviolent resistance to uphold their sacred duty protect the water and land from wanton exploitation and destruction.
Water is life, and we stand for life.
*A credit agreement for up to $2.5 billion has been signed between Dakota Access LLC and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company LLC and a number of global banks to construct the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline. The credit agreement is led by Citigroup and includes the following financial institutions: BANK OF TOKYO MITSUBISHI UFJ, MIZUHO BANK, TD BANK, BAYERNLB, BBVA, BNP PARIBAS, CREDIT AGRICOLE S.A, DNB NORWAY, ICBC, ING, INTESA SANPAOLO, NATIXIS, SMBC, SOCIETE GENERALE, SUNTRUST, WELLS FARGO.
Friends of the Earth International is the world's largest grassroots environmental network, uniting 74 national member groups and some 5,000 local activist groups on every continent. With over 2 million members and supporters around the world, FOEI campaigns on today's most urgent environmental and social issues.
LATEST NEWS
Container Ship That Destroyed Baltimore Bridge Has Troubled History
The Maersk-chartered MV Dali—which lost propulsion just before the collision—not only was involved in a previous crash, but was also briefly detained last year over problems with its propulsion system.
Mar 26, 2024
The mega-container ship that lost propulsion before toppling Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in a Tuesday morning collision was involved in a previous crash, and was cited last year for propulsion-related problems.
Newsweekreported that the Maersk Line Limited-chartered MV Dali—which crashed into the Interstate 695 Patapsco River crossing just before 1:30 am, causing the span to collapse and sending a construction crew into the water—collided with a wall in the harbor at Antwerp, Belgium in 2016. The accident, which was reported by Vessel Finder and other outlets at the time, was attributed to errors made by the ship's master and pilot.
The 9-year-old Dali was also detained by port officials in San Antonio, Chile last June after inspectors discovered a problem related to the vessel's "propulsion and auxiliary machinery," according toThe Washington Post, which cited records from the intergovernmental shipping regulator Tokyo MOU.
The ship's owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and operator, Synergy Marine, "have been sued at least four times in U.S. federal court on allegations of negligence and other claims tied to worker injuries on other ships owned and operated by the Singapore-based companies," according toThe Associated Press.
Maersk was also sanctioned last year by the U.S. Labor Department for allegedly stopping employees from reporting safety concerns, documents published by The Lever revealed.
According to a July 14, 2023 Labor Department letter to Maersk regarding an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation, the Danish company "suspended and then terminated" a worker "in retaliation for reporting unsafe conditions and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard."
The fired employee "engaged in numerous protected activities" including reporting a leak and the need for repairs to a ship's cargo hold bilge system, alcohol use aboard the vessel by crew members, and inoperable equipment including an emergency fire pump and lifeboat block and releasing gear.
The search for six construction workers who were on the bridge when it collapsed into the river was suspended until Wednesday, according toThe Associated Press. The workers are presumed dead by their employer, Brawner Builders. Local media reported that multiple vehicles plunged into the river and that two workers—one of whom was briefly hospitalized—were rescued from the water.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Pentagon Urged to Just Say No to AI-Powered Killer Robots
"The Department of Defense should declare its opposition to the development and deployment of autonomous weapons."
Mar 26, 2024
The watchdog group Public Citizen on Tuesday led a letter urging Pentagon leaders "to clarify that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the development and deployment of autonomous weapons systems," also known as "killer robots."
Last September, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks "asserted that the development of all-domain, attributable autonomy systems (ADA2) is an essential way for the Pentagon to maintain its comparative cutting-edge and keep up with the technological advancements of other states," notes the letter, which was addressed to her and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
"However, those comments failed to specify whether or not supporting autonomous weapons systems is one of the key focuses of this initiative," the letter stresses. "When addressing whether or not 'ADA2 means weapons systems,' Secretary Hicks stated: 'That's a serious question to be sure. They are not synonymous. There are many applications for ADA2 systems beyond delivering weapons effects.'"
"Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
Public Citizen and the 13 other organizations argued that "this is no place for strategic ambiguity. Autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
Deploying lethal weapons that rely on artificial intelligence (AI) "in battlefield conditions necessarily means inserting them into novel conditions for which they have not been programmed, an invitation for disastrous outcomes," the groups warned. "'Swarms' of the sort envisioned by Replicator pose even heightened risks, because of the unpredictability of how autonomous systems will function in a network. And the mere ambiguity of the U.S. position on autonomous weapons risks spurring a catastrophic arms race."
"We believe the Department of Defense should declare its opposition to the development and deployment of autonomous weapons," the coalition concluded. "However, even if you are not prepared to make that declaration, we strongly urge you to clarify that the Replicator Initiative will not employ autonomous weapons."
In addition to Public Citizen, the coalition included the American Friends Service Committee, Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, Backbone Campaign, Demand Progress Education Fund, Fight for the Future, Future of Life, National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, RootsAction.org, United Church of Christ, the Value Alliance, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom U.S., Win Without War, and World Beyond War.
The letter comes on the heels of Public Citizen releasing a report about the rise of killer robots, AI Joe: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence and the Military.
The February report addresses the Pentagon's AI policy, the dangers of killer robots, the need to ensure decisions about nuclear weapons aren't made by automated systems, how artificial intelligence can increase not diminish the use of violence, risks of using deepfakes on the battlefield, and how AI startups are seeking government contracts.
The publication concludes with recommendations that Public Citizen president Robert Weissman echoed in a statement Tuesday.
"The United States should state plainly that it will not create or deploy killer robots and should work to advance global treaty negotiations to ban such weapons," Weissman said. "At minimum, the United States should commit that the Replicator Initiative will not involve the use of autonomous weapons."
"Ambiguity about the Replicator program essentially ensures a catastrophic arms race over autonomous weapons," he added. "That's a race in which all of humanity is the loser."
Keep ReadingShow Less
12 Palestinians Drown Trying to Retrieve Airdropped Gaza Aid From Sea
One campaigner called the incident "another deadly example of why airdrops are not the answer to famine in Gaza."
Mar 26, 2024
Human rights defenders on Tuesday pointed to the drowning deaths of 12 Palestinians trying to retrieve humanitarian aid parcels airdropped off the Gaza shore as yet another reason why Israel must stop blocking aid from entering the embattled strip by land.
Video published on social media shows Palestinians running toward the Mediterranean Sea in Beit Lahia as aid parcels parachute downward. Eyewitness Abu Mohammad toldCNN that the people who drowned "don't know how to swim."
"There were strong currents and all the parachutes fell in the water," Mohammad said. "People want to eat and are hungry. I haven't been able to receive anything."
Ramy Abdu, chair of the Geneva-based group Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, said that some of the victims died after becoming entangled in parachute ropes.
BREAKING| 9 Palestinians drowned and 5 others missing in the Sea of Gaza while trying to get humanitarian airdrop aid due to falling into the sea. pic.twitter.com/tSPpbrKsTg
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) March 26, 2024
According to the U.S. military—which along with Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Singapore has been airdropping aid into Gaza—parachute malfunctions caused three of the 80 parcels dropped to land in the sea. The Pentagon did not say which country carried out the drop.
Earlier this month, five children were crushed to death and numerous other Palestinians were injured by U.S.-airdropped parcels on which the parachutes apparently malfunctioned.
The airdrops come amid widespread and increasingly deadly starvation in Gaza, where Israeli forces have been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war. Last month, Michael Fakhri, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, called Israel's forced starvation of Gazans part of "a situation of genocide" in the besieged enclave, where more than 114,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 7 and around 2 million people out of a population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced.
While Israel claims there are no limits on aid entering Gaza by land, Israeli officials said Monday that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East trucks would be blocked from entering northern Gaza. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked aid convoys and their police escorts, forcing UNRWA to suspend humanitarian deliveries.
Israeli forces have also on several occasions attacked starving Palestinians as they desperately attempt to get food for their families, including in the February 29 "
Flour Massacre" that left more than 870 Gazans dead or wounded.
Also blocking humanitarian aid from reaching starving Palestinians are Israeli civilians who have camped at border crossings to prevent convoys from entering Gaza. Last month, right-wing extremists set up a giant inflatable children's bouncy castle where aid trucks are meant to pass through the Kerem Shalom border crossing in an effort to lend a festive atmosphere to the action.
Medical Aid for Palestinians, a London-based humanitarian group, said Tuesday that "airdrops will not end famine and are a dangerous proposed 'solution.'"
Palestinians in Gaza expressed similar sentiments.
"We call for the opening of the crossings in a proper fashion," Mohammad told CNN, "but these humiliating methods are not acceptable."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular