Nicaragua Canal Part I: The Big Land Grab

Human Rights Violations of Nicaraguan Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean Communities in the Expropriation of Their Ancestral Lands for the Development of an Environmentally Disastrous Canal Linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Nicaragua.

Discussion with Professor Thomas Antkowiak on the development of the Nicaragua Canal which would link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through Nicaragua and the concessions provided to the Chinese company HKND over the traditional lands of Afro-Caribbean communities without their informed consent and in denial of their human rights. We discuss their pending petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, indigenious rights as interepreted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and their development in international law. Thomas teaches international public law and international human rights law at Seattle University's Law School. He is the Director of its Latin America Program and its International Human Rights Clinic and is currently arguing on behalf of Nicaragua's indigenous and Afro-Caribbean communities in various human rights fora, including submitting their petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Thomas’s previous positions include being the Senior Attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States and Director of the Access to Justice Program at the Due Process of Law Foundation.

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