December 10, 2023, marks the 75th anniversary of the universal promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly through resolution 217A during its third session in Paris on December 10, 1948. It was a torn and destroyed world after WWII that was reeling after the destruction,…

The African baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) symbolizes thriving life in the arid landscape of the savannah, providing shelter, food, and water for humans and various species. One man has planted thousands of baobab seedlings over the past 47 years, creating a vast forest that helps his family, community, and the Earth flourish. Meet El Hadji…

She has led a campaign to secure legal stewardship of 17,824 acres of tropical forest land for six Indigenous communities in North Sumatra. Her community’s activism reclaimed this territory from a pulp and paper company that had partially converted it into a monoculture, non-native, industrial eucalyptus plantation. The six communities have begun restoring the forests,…

Faced with the violence of criminal gangs that have overwhelmed the lives of many children, the Kenyan activist opened the doors of her home, giving young people an opportunity. A commitment that earned her the Zayed Prize for Human Fraternity 2023. Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil is a Kenyan activist and first president of the National Women’s…

She organized community efforts to stop mining development by British mining company Anglo American in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Brazil is one of the five largest mineral producers in the world, with much of the activity concentrated in the Amazon region. Mining caused nearly 3 million acres of deforestation between 2005 and 2015. In 2019, the…

Alarmed by the pollution produced by the Konkola Copper Mines operation in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, Chilekwa Mumba organized a lawsuit to hold the mine’s parent company, Vedanta Resources, responsible. Chilekwa’s victory in the UK Supreme Court set a legal precedent – it was the first time an English court ruled that a British…

As Gandhi’s heir, he brought the method of non-violence to the conflicts of youth gangs and peasant marches for land rights. In May he was awarded the 2023 Niwano Prize. He has himself called just by his first name to avoid being identified with a caste. And for fifty years in India – following the…

She is the leader of a cooperative of artisanal miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “Our story is also about resilience, empowerment and our fight for survival for ourselves and our families.” My story is not easy to tell. It is full of pain, one shared by countless women who work in…

The Congolese activist and jurist Yvette Mushigo is the coordinator of the Synergie des Femmes pour la Paix et la Réconciliation (SPR), a network of associations operating in Bukavu (DRC) for women to know and claim their rights. “There are many types of violence that are perpetrated against women. From discrimination in employment and sexual…