"It focuses on what it calls "earthrights," the intersection of human rights and the environment, and combines "the power of law and the power of people" in defense of these rights."
Wa, Ka Hsaw. "Ramon Magsaysay Award Acceptance Speech." 1999...
EarthRights International was founded in order to rectify the deficit of environmental laws that leads to human rights abuses.
Being proactive, the organization seeks to teach suffering indigenous people about parallel laws in developed nations. In doing this, it hopes to provide the resources and ammunition necessary for these already passionate and outspoken student leaders to advocate for the rights that they were previously unaware of. |
"Without his [Ka Hsaw Wa's] work ERI would have been nothing," said
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"This is still our simple strategy. We train and work with emergent leaders from communities who are on the front lines of destructive projects like gas pipelines, mines, dams, what our governments like to call "development" projects.
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Ka Hsaw Wa takes no responsibility for the activism of the students, acknowledging that it's roots are their passion and inner drive to eradicate the suffering of their community, just as he felt. However, the majority of these students are impoverished; without the school, they wouldn't have access to the resources necessary to educate themselves on law. By providing such a valuable opportunity to these individuals, Ka Hsaw Wa inevitably assumes some of the responsibility for their success.
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"There's a reason for that [not much credit for their work], and the reason is security. If we publicized all the things we're doing, it would put a lot of these front-line EarthRights defenders in harm's way. Many of the places in the world where we work have very little political space, so that we have to do this silently, behind the scenes, because if we become the public face of these campaigns, it would endanger a lot of people that we support and that work with us.
It's frustrating; we would like to take credit for a lot of things, and it would help our fundraising, and help raise our profile in the world, but by doing that we actually endanger a lot of people. And so, we can't take credit for a lot of the good things that our EarthRights International staff are doing."
Doerner, Billy. Personal interview. 9 Dec. 2014.
EDUCATION
EarthRights International's education programs are spreading worldwide, furthering the span of Ka Hsaw Wa's legacy:
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"I think what I have gained and learned from the program has really exceeded my expectations…It was the first time for me to be in this family style of school. In my previous schools I have not had this kind of exposure… that can really help us build relationships with and understand people from many different backgrounds."
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EarthRights International is a grass roots organization; the power comes from the people, the students who
are passionate about activism, and who are now equipped with the tool of law.
are passionate about activism, and who are now equipped with the tool of law.
"It's a very good chance for me to learn about the problems in the Mekong region. That is the main reason that I come to this school, to learn about that. And another, I would like to make a network; I can make Thai friends, Myanmar friends, so in the future I can connect them together for a network in the Mekong region. That is very good for our project. And a lot of the Mekong students want to improve their English, because if you have good English, you can learn a lot of knowledge about a country." -Loi Van Ly, EarthRights School student
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ENVIRONMENTAL PRECEDENT
EarthRights alumni and students are addressing a vast array of environmental issues in conjunction with human rights abuses, including mining projects, oil and gas extraction, and special economic zones. In the majority of cases, land rights of the vulnerable indigenous people are being usurped and thousands are displaced from their homes with little to no compensation. These graduates of the EarthRights International program are exposing a lack of environmental laws, and setting a precedent for the involvement of new student leaders and the formation of new organizations for future justice.
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'Student from EarthRights School Self-Advocating for Environmental rights'
Mekong Commons. Mekong Delta Youth Network. Youtube... |
"Those other organizations hold EarthRights in high respect, in high regard, because of the legacy of Ka Hsaw Wa, and Katie, and the legal team, and campaign team especially. They work on the front lines as human rights defenders, as EarthRights defenders, and they've taken that prophetic stance that many other organizations respect but cant do themselves and so I think EarthRights stands alone in many cases as the group that will take on these huge corporations and these governments and really will use the power of law with the power of these marginalized, impacted people "
- Billy Doerner, Educative Director of ERI
Doerner, Billy. Personal interview. 9 Dec. 2014.