2004 World Social Forum

 

The Fourth World Social Forum (WSF) was held in Mumbai, India, from January 17-21, 2004. Attended by over 75,000 people from around 130 countries, this WSF, like the ones before it, retained its diversity and vibrancy. CIEL participated in the WSF and was primarily involved in three activities.

1) Human Rights and Environment Workshop

CIEL was instrumental in generating interest for a workshop on Human Rights and the Environment at the World Social Forum. In collaboration with the Environmental Justice Initiative (New Delhi), we organized this workshop on January 19 from 5-8 PM.

The session was structured more as a discussion workshop rather than a seminar. The aim of the workshop was to share experiences across countries and regions, develop a stronger understanding of the importance of linking human rights and environmental issues in policy, advocacy, and law, and to build platforms for advocating environmental justice.

The workshop had a good international mix of participants from Japan, the US, Afghanistan, India, Germany, Indonesia, Taiwan, Sweden, Belgium, and Bangladesh, among others. It provided scope for interesting discussions ranging from effective strategies of activists to environmental governance, from the strengthening of the rights-based approach to comparative human rights and environment struggles around the world.

2) Land Rights Mela

Several grassroots organizations and rural social movements came together for a three-day land rights event organized by the umbrella organization "Ekta Parishad." More than 2,500 people, mainly rural, from 22 states of India attended this historic event. Also participating, were people working on land rights issues from Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, Cambodia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Belgium, France, Sweden, UK, Canada, and Australia.

CIEL was invited to participate in this event, and had requested some space to make a presentation. We spoke briefly about the strong need for the legal recognition of community-based property rights (CBPRs) of rural communities, and elaborated on the concept of 'aboriginal' or 'native' title, its relevance for India, and how it could be applied in the Indian context.

3) Export Credit Agencies Workshop
CIEL has also continued to pursue efforts to create accountability mechanisms at ECAs. To support efforts of European and other organizations to advocate for development of accountability mechanisms generally, CIEL worked with the Center for Economic and Social Rights in Bolivia, the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network (SEEN) and Pacific Environment to prepare case studies documenting human rights and environmental violations in ECA-funded projects. These case studies were published and presented at an event during the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India in February, 2004, where strategies for the ECA international campaign were also discussed.

 

For more information, please contact Kristen Genovese.

A brief summary of the 2003 World Social Forum is also available here.