Taster Sessions
Between late 2022 and early 2023, we ran a series of introductory online Taster Sessions. The aim of the Taster Sessions was to gauge interest from grassroots communities in the initiative and our upcoming Best Practice Forum, to engage pro bono legal experts across jurisdictions, to help us assess peer-to-peer methodologies in order to tailor future sessions to the needs of grassroots communities, and to request additional feedback to the legal thematic themes identified. The Taster Sessions focused on legal themes and strategies such as the Right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, Practical Legal Actions for Corporate Wrongs, and Analysis of Evidence in Corporate Abuse Cases, all of which will be built on during the Best Practice Forum.
Our approach to these sessions was to convene a peer-to-peer ‘experts-led’ dialogue, bringing together local experts (HRDs, lawyers collectives, community leaders) – who contributed their knowledge and expertise on the challenges faced, strategic gaps and solutions identified – and other experts from the global community (litigators, CSOs and academics ) – to learn from, reflect, comment and offer practical input on developing effective legal strategies to address the main obstacles, drawing from the expertise available in other legal jurisdictions and at the global level.
Practical Legal Actions for Corporate Wrongs - 19th January 2023
This session focused on legal and non-legal obligations of companies, and the actions that can be taken to enforce rights when businesses fail to act accordingly. We were joined by:
Richard Dyton (Chair) and Emma Lough (Director) - Lawyers Against Poverty
Jessica Binwani - Malaysian lawyer
Richard Lord KC - Roots2Justice co-founder and chair of Action4Justice
Free, Prior & Informed Consent - 3rd November 2022
This session explored the duties placed on companies to consult communities affected by their business activities and what steps can be taken to seek to ensure those obligations are meaningfully fulfilled and respected. We were joined by:
Lucy Claridge - International Lawyers Project, formerly Forest Peoples’ Programme
Daniel Kobei - Ogiek Peoples' Development Program, Kenya
Richard Lord KC - Roots2Justice co-founder and chair of Action4Justice
Analysis of Evidence in Corporate Abuse Cases - 2 March 2023
This session looked at researching and investigating companies as well as gathering and presenting evidence that can be used in legal and non-legal strategies. We were joined by:
Rosa Maria Mateus - Colombian human rights lawyer at Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective, CAJAR
Shubhaa Srinivasan - ex-Leigh Day lawyer
Susi Bascon - Roots2Justice co-founder
The Taster Sessions were interactive, delivered online and focused on the following themes:
If there is no confirmed date and time, you can register your interest in these sessions here and we will be in touch shortly once the dates for these have been confirmed. Please do share this with colleagues, partners, and allies you think may be interested.
"No one has the right to buy or sell our land. It is the mestizos that want to buy it without consulting us. But they have to have our authority and our decision. We don’t want to sell the land, we want to live from the land and leave it to our children."
Alfonso Molina, Mexican indigenous leader