Could you give an example of how you work with communities to gather data that advances ESCR? At a very general level, the tool that I think is most effective are Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs). These can be ex-ante or ex-post, with respect to the project being evaluated; whether it has started or not. For example, at the end of 2017 we completed an HRIA on an exploration phase mining project carried out by a Canadian company in the northern region of Puebla. We are currently working with a community in Rio Sonora (northern border of Mexico) and with several communities affected by Grupo Mexico's Cananea mine. HRIAs begin with an awareness stage, in which we talk to communities about what rights are and why they are important, with a pedagogical approach. We also introduce a participatory approach, which sometimes requires working with communities to build trust that the idea is not to extract information from them but to use it for their own benefit, thereby developing a joint process in which NGOs take on only a supporting role so that they can lead the strategy. We then establish and define the goal and areas of research. We focus on issues that the community feels are priorities and urgent (e.g., the right to water is a constant theme in Mexico's struggles). One of the most relevant areas is the protection of the territory and the right to a healthy environment. In this support position, we only help in the definition of indicators such as access, quality and degree of contamination. We work with specialists who collect and analyze samples (water, soil, etc.) according to scientific methods, following the criteria identified by the community. And in each step, we explain to the community what is going to be tested, what the results are, etc. Once we have these results, we give them to the community in a way that is easy to understand and that helps them to use these findings for the next phase: advocacy. In the advocacy phase, it is the communities themselves who present the results to relevant actors, such as state authorities, legislators, embassies, investors, etc. In the case of Puebla, four community representatives went to Parliament and the company's office in Canada; they sought out the investors and other indigenous communities affected by similar projects. In Puebla, the HRIA served not only to show opposition to the project, but also as a baseline to identify the degree of damage the project would cause if it reached the mining stage; in this way, if there is contamination, we will be able to know if it is attributable to the mining project. From this point forward, the struggle will be supplemented with other means, perhaps legal, but will continue to use the results of the HRIA. PODER co-hosted the first strategy meeting of this Working Group. Could you share something that stood out to you about that meeting? Before the meeting I didn't know much about how ESCR-Net works, although my colleagues at Poder have participated in other spaces and meetings. The themes of this meeting resonated with me right away: How to engage communities in responsible and ethical data collection? How to achieve more effective advocacy? What risks can we encounter when collecting and using ESCR data? It may seem that we work in very different contexts, but these are common concerns that are shared by all. When we spread out at the roundtables on the different topics we deal with, I would have liked to be at every table because they all seemed very relevant to what I do every day. Where do you openings or opportunities for collaboration with other members around data and human rights issues? I see several areas for collaboration among members. I feel most of us are involved in community awareness and engagement and we discuss about inclusive participation of communities in data collection. That keeps being important. Nowadays we need to see new technologies as a valuable resource to keep researching and to protect our partners in the field. I think all of our ESCR-Net members have their own strategies to protect community defenders. What we haven’t talked about yet as a group is using big data more effectively - using technology to make publicly available data accessible and usable to communities. For instance our team has been working to open data on the contractors involved in the project of the new airport of Mexico City, exposing economic interests underlying the project with the public funds. Methodologies like data mining and follow-the-money can be a useful asset to other members. |
