For years, communities in Kenya, Uganda, Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Zimbabwe have shown remarkable strength in claiming their rights to food, land, natural resources, and energy. Their courage and persistence have led to meaningful changes in global food and energy systems, proving that real progress is possible. Yet, these hard-won gains face growing threats. Governments worldwide are cutting aid budgets, rolling back protective laws, and corporations are expanding influence, often at the expense of local communities and the environment. Land grabs, forced displacement, and environmental damage remain urgent challenges. This evening we will spotlight the victories of women from communities around the world as well as the threats they face. How do we protect what’s been won? How do we push forward, not back? What must governments in the Global North and South do—not just to stop human rights violations, but also to repair historical damage, set up better policy and legal frameworks to protect people and the environment, and ensure the transitions to fair food and energy systems?

Together with
Janne Nijman
Voorzitter Commissie Mensenrechten AIV
Mpanzu Bamenga
Tweede Kamerlid D66
Mohamed Abul Kalam Azad
Manager, Just Energy Transition Program, ActionAid Bangladesh
Fadzai Midzi
Projects officer, Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA)
Veronica Kange
Project officer, Uganda Network of Public Interest Lawyers (NETPIL)
Danielle Hirsch
Tweede Kamerlid GroenLinks/PvdA

Over de Sprekers

Ama Dantzig
Ghanaian-Dutch social innovator and co-founder of Dr. Monk, a creative agency based in Accra and Amsterdam. She has facilitated high-level discussions for organizations such as the UNDP forest dialogues in Ivory Coast and Liberia, the Obama Foundation’s Leaders: Africa program, and the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center’s Amujae program. Ama is experienced in bringing together diverse groups—including policymakers, artists, and activists—to foster collaboration and practical solutions.

Janne Nijman
Professor of History and Theory of International Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam and a senior researcher at the Amsterdam Center for International Law. In addition, she holds the Chair of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva. From 2015 until July 2022, she served as Chair of the Board and Academic Director of the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague. Janne is also the Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV), which advises the Dutch government and parliament on foreign policy.

Fadzai Midzi
Projects officer for the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA). She works with communities and women’s groups affected by mining to hold government and mining corporations accountable for corporate harm. She will speak about the current national ban on the export of raw minerals, such as black granite, and prioritization of value addition at the national level.

Veronica Kanga
Project officer at the Network of Public Interest Lawyers (NETPIL) in Uganda. This organisation supports communities in defending land rights, getting access to remedy and compensation for land grabbing, as well as on policy change at national level for Business & Human Rights / due diligence legislation. Veronica will share an important update on a long-standing land justice case in Uganda, where victims of a major eviction are finally beginning to receive compensation. She will reflect on how the affected communities came together to hold powerful actors accountable through the courts.
Mohamed Abul Kalam Azad
Manager of the Just Energy Transition Program under the resilience and climate justice framework at ActionAid Bangladesh. He leads a programme focused on a just energy transition, safeguarding people and the environment and promoting climate justice, that has set the policy agenda in Bangladesh on the importance of a transition to green and renewable energy.
Azad will speak about the longstanding struggle to shift away from fossil fuels towards greater investment in renewable energy in Bangladesh, through the example of the Matarbari coal power plant, which was halted thanks to ActionAid’s efforts.
Mpanzu Bamenga
Congolese-born Dutch jurist, human rights activist and politician of the Democrats 66, who has served as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives since 2023. He previously held a seat in the municipal council of Eindhoven from 2014 to 2018, and from 2021 to 2022.
Daniëlle Hirsch

Member of the GroenLinks-PvdA parliamentary group in the House of Representatives since December 6, 2023. Since 2003, she worked at the environmental and human rights organization Both ENDS in the field of water management, and from 2008 onwards, she served as the director of the organisation. She is a spokesperson for international trade and development cooperation.

In collaboration with