Protecting Human Rights is Essential to Conserving Nature

December 9, 2021

So-called “conservation” — in the guise of tourism dollars as a development strategy — is denying basic rights for Indigenous pastoralists in Northern Kenya

An Interview with Daniel Kobei of the Ogiek Peoples' Development Program
August 11, 2020
On June 27, 2020 a heavy contingent of security officers from the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) started an operation to flash out grazers at the Logoman Forest station, one of the blocks in the Eastern section of the Mau Forest Complex in Kenya.

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World Bank's COVID-19 Assistance to Kenya Benefits Multinational Agribusiness and Agrochemical Firms
July 2, 2020 Frederic Mousseau and Andy Currier
Despite the unprecedented nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Bank continues to drive "private sector solutions to development" under the faulty assumption that catering to multinational companies will trickle down and benefit all.

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Conditional Loans, Uncontrolled Misery: Doing Business in India in the Times of Corona
June 22, 2020 Janhavi Mittal
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought up the specter of the Indian partition as the country continues to witness the misery of large–scale human migration on foot and in deathly trains . However, the divide that emerges is not of two nation states but a widening gulf between India’s elite and millions of its second-class citizens — poor, toiling migrant workers. In the midst of this crisis, at a press conference on May 17, 2020,...

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McDonald's High Tolerance for Inequity, Injustice & Racism
June 11, 2020 Anuradha Mittal
Amidst a global pandemic, McDonald's with its estimated net worth of $163 billion, has failed to provide the basic protective gear to keep its workers safe. 33 cooks and cashiers, mainly Latino including 24 women, at its Telegraph Avenue location in Oakland are on a strike for this reason.

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Ensure Basic Rights of the Working Poor on Cesar Chavez's Day
March 31, 2020 Andy Currier
Forced to continue working in conditions that place their lives at risk, the harsh realities these workers face in daily life are coming center stage.

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Crude Conflict or Climate Justice
March 26, 2020 Victor Menotti
As we isolate ourselves physically due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, it is important to recognize real opportunities to convert the current crisis into a viable transition toward social, economic, and climate justice globally.

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Emperor Has No New Clothes
January 30, 2020
The EBA program was not created to help farmers. The Bank's claims to support farmers via the EBA is inherently contradictory to the own raison d'être of the program. The best way for the World Bank to assist farmers would be to disband the EBA program altogether.

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The Failure of Input Subsidies and a New Path Forward to Fight Hunger in Malawi
January 23, 2020 Andy Currier
On October 15th 2019, Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development, Kondwani Nankhuma kicked off the 14th year of the country’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP). The program, which distributes vouchers to farmers that subsidize the cost of fertilizer and "improved" seed varieties, has been the dominant response to persistent food insecurity in the country.

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Feeding the Rich While Starving the Poor: Trump Administration’s Cuts to Food Assistance
December 26, 2019 Andy Currier
Early December, the Trump administration finalized a rule that will tighten work requirements to qualify for food stamps; a decision that will strip desperately needed food assistance from an estimated 700,000 people.

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Tanzania's Withdrawal from the African Court on Human and People's Rights
December 9, 2019 Anuradha Mittal
A Wrong Move for the Country and for the Continent Maasai villagers, their faces are hidden for their protection. Credit: Oakland Institute When domestic mechanisms fail and there is no rule of law, independent regional and international mechanisms are essential to ensure accountability and human rights for all. This December 10th, recognized internationally as Human Rights Day, it is necessary to challenge Tanzanian President John Magufuli...

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Oakland Institute: Our Take

Protecting Human Rights is Essential to Conserving Nature

An Interview with Daniel Kobei of the Ogiek Peoples' Development Program

World Bank's COVID-19 Assistance to Kenya Benefits Multinational Agribusiness and Agrochemical Firms

Conditional Loans, Uncontrolled Misery: Doing Business in India in the Times of Corona

McDonald's High Tolerance for Inequity, Injustice & Racism

Ensure Basic Rights of the Working Poor on Cesar Chavez's Day

Crude Conflict or Climate Justice

Emperor Has No New Clothes

The Failure of Input Subsidies and a New Path Forward to Fight Hunger in Malawi

Feeding the Rich While Starving the Poor: Trump Administration’s Cuts to Food Assistance

Tanzania's Withdrawal from the African Court on Human and People's Rights

Elevating Voices — How "Community" Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya

Art as Resistance: David Solnit