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A press release by the SIRGE Coalition

Automakers Must Account for Indigenous Peoples to Improve Sustainability and Human Rights Commitments

Global automakers are exposed to material, operational and reputational risk from persistent failings to account for rights violations and impacts to Indigenous Peoples throughout supply chains. How can the industry rise from a 6% average to eliminate the risk of harm to Indigenous Peoples?
 

Mishelle Calle, Bazaar Program Assistant, is from a rural parish in Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador. She studied Law at the Universidad del Azuay, followed by Constitutional Law at the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, and a Master’s in Human Rights at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in Nuremberg, Germany. An environmental and human rights activist, she has worked as a lawyer for various Indigenous and campesino communities in Ecuador. She has contributed to the defense of territorial rights and collective rights. Additionally, she has been involved in integrating a human rights and gender perspective in both public and private programs. Mishelle is also a co-founder of the Warmi Muyu project, which seeks dignified alternatives for women facing the impacts of extractivism in Ecuador. She is a member of the Bordadoras Autoconvocadas por la Resistencia, a collective that redefines embroidery as a tool of resistance and a safe space for women. Reach Mishelle at mishelle.calle@culturalsurvival.org

By Human Rights Watch and ACLU

(Washington D.C., February 6, 2025) – The United States government’s decision to permit Lithium Americas to mine at Thacker Pass in Nevada violated Indigenous people’s rights, Human Rights Watch and the ACLU said in a report released today. The 18,000-acre mining project is under construction and will extract lithium from one of the world’s largest known deposits.

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