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Approximately 40 million people were affected by the intentional fires in 2 million hectares of lands and forests in Indonesia in 2015 to prepare the lands for palm oil production. 23 people died, most of them children, due to respiratory infections.
This was denounced once again at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, by activist Khalisah Khalid, of Friends of the Earth Indonesia, who shared a presentation about Indonesian palm oil supplier Bumitama Agri Ltd., an important supplier to palm oil giant Wilmar International.
Khalid was interviewed by Real World Radio this Thursday at the Palace of Nations in Geneva during the third round of negotiations of the Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council towards a binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights.
Next to her was environmental activist Hemantha Withanage, of Friends of the Earth International´s Executive Committee and member of Friends of the Earth Sri Lanka, who presented the cases of Marcopper Mining Corporation in the Philippines (with a loan extended by the Asian Development Bank) and the Uma Oya River Diversion Project in his own country.
Khalisah and Hemantha shared that their respective national legal instruments have failed to provide justice in the cases exposed and that is the reason why a legally binding international treaty is crucial.
Imagen: Víctor Barro, Friends of the Earth International
