Our key takeaway: Attacks against human rights and environmental defenders, ranging from legal intimidation to threats to violence to murder, are still on the rise globally. Perhaps most concerning is the parallel upwards trajectory between investment in mining for transition minerals and the number of defenders attacked for speaking out against mining projects. Investors and companies need to conduct robust human rights and environmental due diligence to identify and mitigate risks to defenders, and commit to remedy when impacts have already occurred.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) published an interactive resource and an investor briefing, outlining trends in attacks on human rights defenders (HRDs) and providing recommendations for the private sector: