"Defending their rights, risking their lives", 14 Jun 2018

The democratic space for civil society is shrinking, and threats and violence towards human rights defenders who speak out is escalating.... Resource exploitation is intensifying together with a contraction of political liberties and lowering of tolerance for freedom of expression in many countries around the world. This is a very dangerous and explosive situation... [D]efenders in the extractive sector are particularly vulnerable... [In Angola], Rafael Marques wrote a book...about human rights abuses in Angola’s diamond-rich Lundas region...[He]...faced [24] defamation charges...which could have resulted in a nine-year prison sentence. One of [them]...from...ITM Mining... [In Thailand] in July 2017, seven women [HRDs] were charged... for protesting against the business activities of Tungkham gold mining company... In May 2018...two persons were charged... [for protesting] against exploration of potash... by... China Mingda Potash Corporation. The manager of the company [said]...they planned to file more complaints..., since they...forced a halt to the exploration work and caused damages to the company... [In South Africa], in 2017,... Mineral Sands Resources, a subsidiary of... Mineral Commodities Limited, sued two lawyers from the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER).... [In Malawi]...eight Tanzanian activists  [were charged] for...working as foreign agents. The group... was investigating a uranium mine...established by Paladin...