Press and Publications

This exchange is one of many to bring women leaders from all over the world together in one space to learn from each other, strategize and build collective power.

The Amazon is ablaze. This year, the unprecedented number of fires raging in the rainforest represents an 82% increase from 2018. Smoke from the fires plunged Sao Paulo into darkness. This crisis threatens the survival of Indigenous Peoples who call the Amazon home. 

MADRE calls for solidarity with and protections for Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, especially Indigenous women who are defending their territories against exploitation and confronting far-right policies to protect their lands and communities. We are mobilizing resources to provide urgent aid and to support Indigenous women’s organizing.

In April, MADRE organized a delegation of international Indigenous women — from Kenya, Israel, Nepal, Colombia, Guatemala and Nicaragua -- partnering with the US-based Indigenous Environmental Network to bring them to North Dakota.

Any schoolchild in the United States knows that the US Declaration of Independence guarantees individuals’ rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

For 18 years, a destructive post-9/11 policy has been used as a “blank check” for unjust US wars worldwide: the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). 

When it comes to the letter of the law, a few words can mean the difference between having your rights protected – or not.

A coalition of human rights organizations, led by MADRE, Outright Action International and CUNY Law School, have announced a historic victory for the power of international law to extend protection to all victims of atrocities. Their campaign to ensure international legal protections for the rights of women and LGBTIQ people has won a crucial endorsement from the International Law Commission (ILC), the body charged with drafting a new treaty on prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity.

A scarred hillside stood before us, a reminder of a 2014 oil pipeline spill. Oil pumpjacks rose and fell relentlessly around us.

We stand with Afro-Colombian human rights defenders and peace advocates under threat. 

The crisis in Venezuela is again accelerating, with renewed protests and ongoing opposition efforts to push Nicolás Maduro out of power. The US has also mounted a campaign to undermine his rule, including with the threat of military intervention. MADRE calls for an escalated commitment to a negotiated settlement to end the crisis in Venezuela and for an end to the threats of US military attack. And we denounce US attempts at regime change, the latest in a long history of destabilizing interventions in the region.

When we honor Earth Day, it’s about much more than the ground beneath your feet. It’s the food that nourishes us, the water that sustains us, the air that flows through us. It’s about the deep and intricate connections between all beings, and our responsibility to live in balance with each other and the Earth.

Fort Berthold, ND – April 17, 2019 – A delegation of Indigenous women climate defenders from Colombia, Guatemala, Israel, Kenya, Nepal and Nicaragua arrived today in North Dakota to visit the Fort Berthold Reservation where they will meet with local leaders who are confronting the devastating impact of oil and gas mega-projects on their communities, particularly on Indigenous women and girls.