Palestinian children as young as 11 work on Israeli farms in the occupied West Bank, an HRW investigation reveals. While the EU buys produce worth $300m a year from the illegal 'settlements', undocumented child labourers are exposed to pesticides, paid well below the minimum wage, enjoy no employment rights, and toil long hours in hot fields and greenhouses.
… not to take breaks. Although international law, as well as Israeli and Palestinian law, sets 15 as the minimum age of employment, … communities, Israeli and Palestinian labor lawyers, development-agency staff and labor …
A new species of eco-lawyer is emerging from the legal undergrowth. James Thornton advocates a wig-and-gown approach so campaigners can strengthen their case against unethical corporations
… Can lawyers save the world? James Thornton | 12th June 2007 News Good Law Project Eco-lawyer Law Aarhus Convention Lawyer Earth …
Ghana's government is desperate to pass a Plant Breeders Bill that would remove farmers' ancient 'seed freedom' to grow, retain, breed and develop crop varieties - while giving corporate breeders a blanket exemption from seed regulations. Now the farmers are fighting back.
… Ghana's farmers battle ‘Monsanto law' to retain seed freedom Chris Walker … 2014 News Food Farming Seeds Ghana Africa Law Politics ghana-farmers-protest-cut.jpg … and to feed the country. Under the laws, farmers that use seed varieties claimed …
Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open farming up to an agribusiness invasion - displacing the millions of small cultivators that now feed the continent, and replacing them with a new model of profit-oriented agriculture using patented seeds and varieties. The agencies effecting the transformation are legion - but they are all marching to a single drum.
… Land and seed laws under attack as Africa is groomed for … Un Development sorghum-cut.jpg Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open farming up to … the ground - they are also changing African laws to accommodate the agribusiness agenda. …
Lured by promises of aid and investment, African governments are rewriting laws to create lucrative opportunities for corporate agribusiness, writes Chris Walker - while consigning their own farmers to servitude and landlessness. But now farmers are rising up, as in Ghana where a new 'Monsanto law' threatens to end their right to grow, save and share their ancestral seeds.
… Farming Seeds Africa Corporations Finance Law Development brong-ahafo-ghana-cut.jpg … investment, African governments are rewriting laws to create lucrative opportunities for … rising up, as in Ghana where a new 'Monsanto law' threatens to end their right to grow, …
Cincinnati has passed a new law introducing 'environmental justice permits', and will use police powers to force polluting businesses to clean up their acts or get out of town
… Cincinnati law to police polluting businesses The … cincinnati.jpg Cincinnati has passed a new law introducing 'environmental justice … clean up their acts or get out of town A new law could see Cincinnati become the first city …
Forget tariffs, forget Obama's promises. The whole point of modern 'trade agreements' is to whack pesky labor, environment and health laws, writes David Morris, and so empower capital and corporate power against regulators, governments and democracy itself. Unconvinced? Just imagine what these deals would look like if they were there to empower people.
… to whack pesky labor, environment and health laws, writes David Morris, and so empower … agreement is going to force us to change our laws." On 18th May the World Trade … of Canada and Mexico in a case involving a US law requiring country-of-origin labels on …
A consistent pattern is emerging in the UK government's plans and policies, writes Paul Mobbs: the stripping away of human rights and freedoms; the detachment of public institutions from democratic accountability; an increase of the powers of the state; and the empowerment of corporations at the expense of people. We must act to preserve our liberties, while we still can.
… dilution of democratic power, written into law under the last Con-Dem administration, has … the normal controls of data protection law, had been given legal sanction under the … Speech contained [8] a list of proposed laws [9], the majority of which do not focus …
Industrial logging in the world's second largest rainforest is out of control, writes Raoul Monsembula, and spells disaster for both wildlife and forest people. There is an alternative: community forestry has just been enshrined in law. But resources must be committed to law enforcement in Congo and abroad, and to empowering forest communities.
… Forests Congo Africa Indigenous Peoples Law Regulation Commons bonobo.jpg Industrial … community forestry has just been enshrined in law. But resources must be committed to law enforcement in Congo and abroad, and to …
Ecocide is a global problem, writes Bukola Saraki, and laws are desperately needed to hold companies to account for the damage they cause. Nigeria - long despoiled with impunity by the oil industry - is just the place to start.
… a global problem, writes Bukola Saraki, and laws are desperately needed to hold companies … Parliament. However bringing an Ecocide Law to the EU does not have to be the first … this fight. Ecocide is a global problem - and laws are being drafted and petitioned for in …
Campaigners say the Environment Agency failed to heed warnings that the gas tanker Margaret Hill would be sent to ship-breaking yards in India
… on the beaches of South Asia. International law Under European and international law it is illegal to send ships containing … An Environment Agency spokesperson said the law did not permit them to take a guaranteeing …
Crippling costs of legal action prevents people mounting challenges over environmental damage, finds UN Committee
… Activists win historic ruling on 'people's law on the environment' Tom Levitt | 26th August 2010 News Legal Activism Justice Law Society legalearth1.jpg The high costs of … and environmental damage INVESTIGATION Can lawyers save the world? A new species of …
Women of an 'untouchable' caste in village India are rebelling against a life of cleaning human ordure, poverty and relentless discrimination, writes Amy Braunschweiger. Among them is Lalibai, who inherited her 'job' at the age of 12 - but has just helped to organise a protest march of 10,000 women across 18 states.
… and fields each morning. India has long had laws in place banning manual scavenging and, … to Madhya Pradesh. At 12, her mother-in-law passed down to her the traditional job of … in tires on the road. Lalibai's father-in-law passed away in 2003, and she wanted to …
The Sustainable Communities Bill - the landmark legislation tabled by MP Nick Hurd which promises to be an enabling act for local communities - has passed its third reading in the House of Commons.
… Communities Bill edges closer to becoming law 22nd June 2007 News Sustainable … only a House of Lords debate before becoming law. The organisation behind the Bill, Local … a local level, tabling amendments to planning laws or business rates, or incentivising …
Nigeria is suffering political instability resulting from desertification and pollution, writes Senator Bukola Saraki. As Africa's most populous country it has no choice but to engage in the fight against climate change, its causes, and its consequences.
… Comment Nigeria Africa Climate Change Unfccc Law nigeria-water-for-sale.png Nigeria is … on creating a global fund for implementing laws that would be created. Last week's GLOBE … to develop and pass climate change laws? With tight government budgets, raising …
Nandor Tanczos thinks the modern legal system could learn a lot from traditional ideas of justice, such as those of the Maori people
… legal system is based not on justice, but on laws. If I stab someone, the problem, … is not that I hurt them, but that I broke the law. ‘The Crown’ is the complainant, the … prove that I didn’t, technically, break the law, then I will go unpunished. This is not …
On 10 December, the European Parliament will vote over a huge fisheries partnership agreement with Morocco. If the agreement is approved the environment, human rights, peace and international law will all suffer. Erik Hagen reports...
… human rights, peace and international law will all suffer. Erik Hagen reports... As … to join, in clear violation of international law, in the plunder of Western Sahara's fish. … actions. For example, Morocco has outlawed civil society organisations in Western …
Robin Millam from the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature is encouraged to by the progress being made by those countries and communities small and large who are seeking to give legal rights to nature.....
… recognized as a rights bearing subject of the law. In 2008 Ecuador became the first country … United States and Ecuador, Rights of Nature laws are being implemented in Bolivia and … rivers and aquifers had no standing in the law and the contaminating pits were owned by …
Forests are the traditional refuge of rebels, dissidents and all who seek freedom from the strictures of civilization, writes Ken Worpole. But for all the idea lives on in our hearts and minds, that role has now been usurped by our cities. Now, just as our forests have been enclosed and subdued, so our cities face a similar fate - one we must resist to preserve our liberty.
… The law of the forest and the freedom of the … associate (and on occasions run foul of the law) - have been subtly suborned, or deleted. … they have typically been considered places of lawlessness, they have also provided havens …
Landfill sites, giant hog farms, incinerators and other 'bad neighbor' industries in the US tend to be situated in African American communities, writes Heather Kathryn Ross. The Environmental Protection Agency is legally obliged to prevent 'environmental racism', but from California to Michigan, low-income communities of color have been waiting years for it to take a stand. Now, backed by Earthjustice, they are forcing the issue - in the courts.
… Earthjustice | 11th November 2015 News USA Law Pollution Waste Society … face and these companies know it." The law and the landfill Under Title VI of the … residents' civil rights. As part of the same lawsuit, Earthjustice is also fighting on …
Sharing and saving seed is a crucial part of traditional farming all over Africa, writes Heidi Chow. Maybe that's why governments, backed by multinational seed companies, are imposing oppressive seed laws that attack the continent's main food producers and open the way to industrial agribusiness. But Ghana's women farmers are having none of it.
… seed companies, are imposing oppressive seed laws that attack the continent's main food … why we exchange them." An oppressive new law is putting all this under threat The … by a proposed bill - dubbed the ‘Monsanto Law' - in Ghana. Its effect would be to …
Africa's poor environmental record has its roots in colonialism, which cut artificial boundaries through peoples and ecosystems, and left a rigid 'fortress conservation' ethic, writes Willem Daniel Lubbe. It's time for countries to adopt a new pan-African environmentalism, and transcend their colonial past.
… 2015 Comment Africa Biodiversity Conservation Law elephants-masai-mara-cut.jpg Africa's poor … is needed. In their 1996 book, International Law and the Conservation of Biological … development in international environmental law. The African Commission on Human and …
Coca-Cola is the latest company to join the agricultural 'scramble for Africa', writes Miriam Ross. Backed by £600 million of British aid under the guise of 'food security' and 'nutrition', a vast give-away of Africa's land is under way that will condemn small farmers to landlessness and poverty.
… corporations, backed by the full force of law, enter the valley? Photo: David Stanley … are required to make changes to their laws and policies to make life easier for big agribusiness. Laws governing seeds are a prime target. For …
Ruling would allow NGOs and individuals to challenge environmental damage in courts without prohibitive financial risks
… Activists fight to save 'people's law on the environment' The Ecologist | 23rd September 2009 News Law Justice Society Protest pollution.jpg … financial risks A team of activist lawyers are to start a legal challenge to get …