Ms Gabriela Quijano:

One thing I wanted to also reflect in conclusion is that when we talk about human rights defenders or environmental and human rights defenders, we need to remember that these are people who did not necessarily want to become defenders. If companies were operating in an appropriate manner, be that by conducting consultations, respecting proper and informed consent and leaving if consent is not given, and respecting rights like Ramona Margarita Domingo Díaz was saying, there would be a lot fewer human rights defenders but that is not necessarily a bad thing because these people are living - and want to live - their normal, everyday lives in peace. They did not necessarily want to take up these battles that put them at so much risk. Protecting human right defenders is absolutely critical but it is important that we do not have more and more human rights and environmental defenders because companies and governments are not doing the right thing. People need to be allowed to live in peace with the confidence that their rights are being respected in the first place.