Mission: EarthRights International (ERI) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization (NGO) that combines the power of law and the power of people in defense of human rights and the environment, our earth rights. Earth rights are those rights that demonstrate the connection between human well-being and a sound environment, and include the right to a healthy environment, the right to speak out and act to protect the environment, and the right to participate in development decisions.
ERI's mission is to protect humans and their natural environment from abuses occurring in the name of development. Specifically, we:
1) INVESTIGATE, MONITOR AND EXPOSE human rights and environmental abuses;
2) INCREASE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY of governments, transnational corporations (TNCs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) as they undertake investment and development activities;
3) PROTECT INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES working to defend the earth; and
4) ENSURE BIODIVERSITY, conservation and ecological integrity.
Target demographics: frontline communities and Indigenous peoples to avert climate catastrophe and hold corporations accountable for harms they impose on people and the planet
Geographic areas served: Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the U.S.
Programs: trainings, legal strategies, campaining and advocacy
My family has supported EarthRights for many years now. They are doing such important work on a personal level educating people on how to legally stand up for their rights on the ground where abuse is occurring. I am awed and inspired by their staff and volunteers and in what they have been able to accomplish. So proud to be able to support this important organization.
harreld
Professional with expertise in this field
07/08/2011
Rating: 4
07/08/2011
I've had experience with ERI while working on the Thai-Burma border and in Chiang Mai with Open Society Institute's Burma Project, have had discussions with their staff and former clients while working at a think tank in DC focused on Burma issues, and have hosted staff for the Burma Roundtable in DC among other things.
Their personnel tends to be top-notch in terms of dedication, commitment, and having a propensity to take all resources and to focus them on the communities they serve. Their legal initiatives have a well-deserved reputation for breakthroughs. Their positions tend to be simultaneously principled and appropriately pragmatic.
If I were asked to direct donation resources to an organization working in their geographic or mission target areas, I'd encourage people to strongly consider them. If I were asked for a model organization that others working in the field might take lessons from, ERI would still have a pole or near-pole position.
Lauri T.
Professional with expertise in this field
07/08/2011
Rating: 5
07/08/2011
I recently had the pleasure of meeting with 5 of the staff members of EarthRights International at their offices in Washington, DC.
Each conversation was so inspiring and confirmed for me how devoted these folks are to the extraordinary work of ERI in so many areas.
I've been following and promoting their efforts in the areas of human rights & environmental advocacy for the last 5 years, and hope to work with them in the future on protecting environmental defenders around the world.
