Global organisation Oxfam is partnering with industry network group Creatives for Climate for the release of a new film titled Hold the Line.
The film features first-hand experiences of human rights defenders on the frontlines of the climate crisis in South Africa, Colombia, and the United States, and details how the operations of large brands and corporations impact them.
Complimenting Oxfam’s Threats to Human Rights Defenders: Six Ways Companies Should Respond briefing paper released in April 2023, the film will premiere at the African Human Rights Film Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, from 18-20 October.
Additionally, Oxfam has tasked Creatives for Climate to engage the industry and its 25,000-member network in a global webinar on 7 November.
The webinar will offer ways to protect human rights defenders at risk and advocate for higher global human rights standards at a time when human rights experts and campaigners have warned against an intensifying crackdown on climate protests.
It will feature two human rights defenders profiled in Hold the Line, Nonhle Mbuthuma and Desmond D’Sah.
Creatives for Climate will also launch a new interactive Hub that facilitates conversations between human rights defenders and industry professionals ready to learn more.
Andrew Bogrand, Senior Policy Advisor at Oxfam, says the partnership with Creatives for Climate will support Oxfam in engaging the creative community.
‘Communicators and marketers have an obligation not just to hold their employers accountable for developing policies that keep defenders safe and promote human rights due diligence, but also an obligation to promote and amplify these policies. Hundreds of human rights defenders lose their lives standing up to polluters and pursuing climate justice every year,’ he said.
Featured image: Linda Yulitza Serna / Oxfam and Creatives for Climate
