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Since the widely disputed presidential election in August 2020, the Belarusian regime has engaged in a brutal crackdown on all forms of dissent, real or imaginary.

Police have used rubber bullets, stun grenades, chemical irritants, water cannons and other less lethal weapons against peaceful protesters, resulting in at least four deaths and countless serious injuries. More than 30,000 demonstrators have been detained and scores of have been subjected to torture and other ill treatment. At least one person is known to have died in detention. Many journalists and human rights defenders involved on documenting police crackdowns in Belarus have been imprisoned. Opposition leaders have either fled the country or been detained.

You don’t have to be out in the streets protesting to be at risk. Passers-by, flower sellers and even people wearing red or white clothes -- the colours of the flag of Belarus first adopted in 1918 during a brief period of independence -- eating red and white candy or even hanging the red and white Japanese or Canadian flag in their apartments have also been targeted.

There is no doubt that humanity is facing an environmental crisis of unprecedented proportions. Climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystems degradation and toxic pollution of air, water and soil are dramatic and interconnected processes that severely impact the enjoyment of human rights for billions of people, and particularly of those marginalized and facing discrimination.

In the light of this emergency, it is imperative that the human right of all to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is globally recognized.  The momentum for the global recognition of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is growing.

As pointed out by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, most countries have already incorporated the right to a healthy environment in their constitutions and laws. Numerous UN agencies have also called for the recognition of this right at the global level. Canada however has yet to do so.

International Women’s Day should be a time of celebration. It might feel like there’s not much to be positive about right now, especially when we consider the harm the pandemic has caused to women, girls and LGBTI people around the world.

But this year it’s especially important to celebrate women’s achievements – not only because we're all in need of some good news, but because there is plenty of cause for hope. Here are ten things that happened last year that prove change is always possible - even during a pandemic.

On March 2 the Federal Court of Canada will hear a case alleging that the Canadian government is improperly withholding information about its diplomatic interventions on behalf of a Canadian company accused of human rights abuse at its mine in Guatemala.  

The lawsuit, filed by Shin Imai, York University law professor and co-founder of the Justice & Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), is supported by several civil society organizations including Amnesty International Canada.

It asks the court to order Global Affairs Canada to remove the redactions on 20 pages of documents detailing Canadian officials’ communications with the Guatemalan government and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) after the commission called for Goldcorp’s Marlin mine to be shut down in 2010.