Advocacy
EarthRights’ advocacy and campaigns team builds collective power to defend democracy and help communities become more climate resilient.
We collaborate with communities, human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and lawyers to challenge powerful interests that commit human rights abuses while exploiting the planet’s natural resources.
Our Work
Climate resilience depends on democracy.
In all of the regions where we work, we advocate for people to have a real voice in decisions about energy and development projects being placed in their communities. We pressure powerful actors to respect people’s rights to access to information, public participation, and access to justice. And we ensure that green supply chains are just and fair for local communities.
In a democracy, no one should be above the law.
Democracy becomes fragile when a country’s most powerful corporations and individuals can cause harm to others and steal public resources without consequences. Our campaigns recognize the central role that corporate accountability plays in a democracy. We work to hold multinational corporations and financial institutions accountable when they cause human rights abuses and environmental harm, and ensure that those responsible pay their fair share of the costs.
The rights to free speech and freedom of assembly are the bedrock of democracy – and environmental activism.
Without the ability to speak truth to power, we cannot defend democracy or the global climate. We work to ensure that people do not face retaliation for protesting or speaking out in defense of their communities’ rights, the local ecosystem, or the global climate. We believe in the power of collective action when preventing these attacks from occurring, playing a leadership role in national and global coalitions that support environmental defenders who are threatened with violence and criminalization as a result of their advocacy.
How We Work
EarthRights’ advocacy and campaigns team documents and exposes abuses, alerts key stakeholders and decision-makers, builds collective power through coalitions, and amplifies local voices. We push companies and financial institutions to adhere to responsible practices and use their leverage to protect the communities where they operate.
When abuses become systemic, we advocate for policy changes to strengthen protections for communities and civil society, ensure a just and responsible transition away from fossil fuels, and hold institutions and corporations accountable for abuses of power.
Further Global Advocacy Work
Help us fight for justice
In a world where climate disruption is accelerating, corporate harm often goes unchecked, and threats against advocates continue to rise, our victories remind us where we’re most needed and most effective.