More than 500 Milwaukee-area business executives attended the United Community Center's 47th anniversary celebration during which Aurora Health Care president and CEO Dr. Nick Turkal and JoAnne Anton of Herb Kohl Philanthropies were honored. Check out the attached slideshow put together by Milwaukee Business Journal freelance photographer Janet McMillan to see photos from the popular event. In addition to Turkal and Anton, Bill O'Toole, president and CEO of Catholic Financial Life, and Milwaukee…
Reported by bizjournals 10 hours ago.
United Community Center honors Aurora CEO Dr. Nick Turkal, JoAnne Anton: Slideshow
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Aurora police arrest suspect in fatal motel shooting
Aurora and Colorado Springs police arrested a suspect early Tuesday in Colorado Springs who was wanted in connection with a fatal shooting last week at a Colfax Avenue motel in Aurora, authorities said.
Reported by Denver Post 6 hours ago.
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FEI to Present at Metro Milwaukee SHRM and ASIS Seminar
Leveraging EAP to support victims of domestic violence
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
FEI Behavioral Health, a social enterprise with a 35-year history and a leader in workforce resilience from EAP and organizational development to workplace violence prevention and crisis management, will present at a joint Metro Milwaukee Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and ASIS International seminar, “When Domestic Violence Comes to the Workplace” at the Aurora Conference Center, 2920 W. Dakota St., Milwaukee.
The seminar will be held May 18, 2017 and will run 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CST. FEI Chief Operating Officer Dan Potterton and Senior Account Manager Randy Kratz will present the session, “The Employee Assistance Program Role” as part of the agenda for the day. This session will discuss best practices for assisting organizations at various stages of suspected or actual domestic violence.
The session will discuss how Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are frequently called on to support organizations and their workforces as they navigate this serious, often confusing and sometimes deadly intersection of personal health, employment law, organizational wellness and public safety. The workshop will review the services FEI provides to its client companies before, during and after suspected incidents of domestic violence.
As COO, Potterton has oversight for all customer facing functions of the organization. He oversees account management of the company and is responsible for the oversight and strategic direction of the company’s crisis management services. Potterton has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and EAP/managed care industry.
Kratz, MS, LCSW, LPC, is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed professional counselor in the State of Wisconsin and has worked as both a counselor and a supervisor in outpatient and hospital settings for more than 15 years. He has been a workplace consultant for over 20 years providing employers and employees with assistance for stress and conflict management, organizational change, substance abuse and other organizational challenges affecting people. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work and a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology.
To learn more about the “When Domestic Violence Comes to the Workplace” seminar or FEI’s presentation, visit http://www.mmshrm.org/professional-development/partner-programs/.
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FEI has a 35-year history in enhancing workforce resiliency by offering a full spectrum of solutions, from EAP and organizational development to workplace violence prevention and crisis management. One of the most successful social enterprises in America, FEI was created by the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, a national network of more than 450 human-serving organizations to help employers maintain healthy, resilient businesses. Visit http://www.feinet.com for additional information. Reported by PRWeb 26 minutes ago.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (PRWEB) May 09, 2017
FEI Behavioral Health, a social enterprise with a 35-year history and a leader in workforce resilience from EAP and organizational development to workplace violence prevention and crisis management, will present at a joint Metro Milwaukee Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and ASIS International seminar, “When Domestic Violence Comes to the Workplace” at the Aurora Conference Center, 2920 W. Dakota St., Milwaukee.
The seminar will be held May 18, 2017 and will run 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CST. FEI Chief Operating Officer Dan Potterton and Senior Account Manager Randy Kratz will present the session, “The Employee Assistance Program Role” as part of the agenda for the day. This session will discuss best practices for assisting organizations at various stages of suspected or actual domestic violence.
The session will discuss how Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are frequently called on to support organizations and their workforces as they navigate this serious, often confusing and sometimes deadly intersection of personal health, employment law, organizational wellness and public safety. The workshop will review the services FEI provides to its client companies before, during and after suspected incidents of domestic violence.
As COO, Potterton has oversight for all customer facing functions of the organization. He oversees account management of the company and is responsible for the oversight and strategic direction of the company’s crisis management services. Potterton has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and EAP/managed care industry.
Kratz, MS, LCSW, LPC, is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed professional counselor in the State of Wisconsin and has worked as both a counselor and a supervisor in outpatient and hospital settings for more than 15 years. He has been a workplace consultant for over 20 years providing employers and employees with assistance for stress and conflict management, organizational change, substance abuse and other organizational challenges affecting people. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work and a Master of Science degree in Counseling Psychology.
To learn more about the “When Domestic Violence Comes to the Workplace” seminar or FEI’s presentation, visit http://www.mmshrm.org/professional-development/partner-programs/.
____________________________________________________________________________________
FEI has a 35-year history in enhancing workforce resiliency by offering a full spectrum of solutions, from EAP and organizational development to workplace violence prevention and crisis management. One of the most successful social enterprises in America, FEI was created by the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, a national network of more than 450 human-serving organizations to help employers maintain healthy, resilient businesses. Visit http://www.feinet.com for additional information. Reported by PRWeb 26 minutes ago.
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In first decision on a police shooting, Denver DA will not file charges because suspect shot first
Aurora Police Department Sgt. Cassidee Carlson, Aurora officer Steven Edwards and Denver Police Department Officer Jimmy Shepherd were justified in shooting and killing Juan Ramos in November, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said.
Reported by Denver Post 23 hours ago.
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Business Q&A: Herrada Printing of Colorado, Inc., Aurora
From business cards to wedding invitations, this family-owned and -operated print shop has everything in between.
Reported by Denver Post 18 hours ago.
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Aurora police looking for man who attempted to rob a bank Tuesday
The Aurora Police Department is asking for help identifying a man who tried to rob a U.S. Bank in northwest Aurora on Tuesday afternoon. Do U know this Bank Robber? We want to hear from you. Call APD @ 303-472-0350 or @CrimeStoppersCO. #REWARD PLZ RT https://t.co/pNc1WTYZaS pic.twitter.com/FScjnRBdNQ — Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) May 10, 2017 […]
Reported by Denver Post 17 hours ago.
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12 Colorado workplaces make Forbes' 'best employers' lists
UCHealth -- parent of Aurora's University of Colorado Hospital -- is the highest ranking of six Colorado businesses and public agencies on Forbes magazine's latest list of "America's Best Employers" with more than 5,000 workers, based on employee surveys. And Compassion International -- a Christian child humanitarian aid organization based in Colorado Springs -- is the highest-ranking Colorado workplace on a separate list of mid-sized employers. UCHealth -- which also operates hospitals in Fort…
Reported by bizjournals 5 hours ago.
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Ecotech Institute Partners with City of Aurora for 2017 Annual Cleanup Day
The first and only college focused solely on clean and renewable energy education, Ecotech Institute today announced that it will partner with the city of Aurora for the 2017 Annual Cleanup Day (May 20, 2017). As part of the free event running from 10:00 A.M.-1:00 P.M., the school’s parking lot will serve as a collection site for residential waste that is not appropriate for curbside pickup.
Aurora, CO (PRWEB) May 10, 2017
Ecotech Institute, the first and only college entirely focused on preparing graduates for careers in clean and renewable energy, today announced its partnership with the city of Aurora for the 2017 citywide Annual Cleanup Day dedicated to keeping the city neighborhoods clean and healthy. As part of the event taking place on Saturday, May 20, 2017 from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., Ecotech Institute will host a collection of large residential waste, giving Aurora residents the opportunity to discard certain items at no cost.
“We are excited to be partnering with the city of Aurora for the Annual Cleanup Day,” said Ecotech Institute Campus President Chris Gorrie. “As a college committed to clean and renewable energy education, we care deeply about the environment. This is why Ecotech Institute is honored by the opportunity to help provide Aurora residents with a safe and convenient way to dispose of their household waste; and we encourage everyone to come to our campus on May 20 to take part in this important event.”
Margee Cannon, Aurora’s Neighborhood Liaison Coordinator added, “Although only in its third year, Aurora’s Annual Cleanup Day continues to be a popular and highly valued event that our residents take advantage of and appreciate. We are honored to have Ecotech Institute as one of our partners this year and hope to continue working together in the future.”
The collection dumpsters will be located at Ecotech Institute’s parking lot at 1400 S. Abilene St., Aurora, CO 80012. Residents participating in this free event must bring proof of residency, including a driver’s license, utility bill or other identification with an Aurora address. The Aurora Cleanup Day participants will also get a chance to receive a free reusable grocery bag at the event, while supplies last.
For more information about Aurora Cleanup Day, a list of restricted items, and the locations of other collection sites, visit: AuroraGov.org/KeepAuroraClean.
About Ecotech Institute
Ecotech Institute is the first and only college in the U.S. solely focused on energy. Through flexible options designed to meet diverse career goals, students can pursue education in energy in a way that works for them. Located in Aurora, CO, Ecotech Institute offers an array of practical energy degree programs that prepare students for energy careers. Ecotech Institute is a division of Education Corporation of America and is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. For more information about Ecotech Institute, visit ecotechinstitute.com or call 877-326-5576. Reported by PRWeb 4 hours ago.
Aurora, CO (PRWEB) May 10, 2017
Ecotech Institute, the first and only college entirely focused on preparing graduates for careers in clean and renewable energy, today announced its partnership with the city of Aurora for the 2017 citywide Annual Cleanup Day dedicated to keeping the city neighborhoods clean and healthy. As part of the event taking place on Saturday, May 20, 2017 from 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., Ecotech Institute will host a collection of large residential waste, giving Aurora residents the opportunity to discard certain items at no cost.
“We are excited to be partnering with the city of Aurora for the Annual Cleanup Day,” said Ecotech Institute Campus President Chris Gorrie. “As a college committed to clean and renewable energy education, we care deeply about the environment. This is why Ecotech Institute is honored by the opportunity to help provide Aurora residents with a safe and convenient way to dispose of their household waste; and we encourage everyone to come to our campus on May 20 to take part in this important event.”
Margee Cannon, Aurora’s Neighborhood Liaison Coordinator added, “Although only in its third year, Aurora’s Annual Cleanup Day continues to be a popular and highly valued event that our residents take advantage of and appreciate. We are honored to have Ecotech Institute as one of our partners this year and hope to continue working together in the future.”
The collection dumpsters will be located at Ecotech Institute’s parking lot at 1400 S. Abilene St., Aurora, CO 80012. Residents participating in this free event must bring proof of residency, including a driver’s license, utility bill or other identification with an Aurora address. The Aurora Cleanup Day participants will also get a chance to receive a free reusable grocery bag at the event, while supplies last.
For more information about Aurora Cleanup Day, a list of restricted items, and the locations of other collection sites, visit: AuroraGov.org/KeepAuroraClean.
About Ecotech Institute
Ecotech Institute is the first and only college in the U.S. solely focused on energy. Through flexible options designed to meet diverse career goals, students can pursue education in energy in a way that works for them. Located in Aurora, CO, Ecotech Institute offers an array of practical energy degree programs that prepare students for energy careers. Ecotech Institute is a division of Education Corporation of America and is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools. For more information about Ecotech Institute, visit ecotechinstitute.com or call 877-326-5576. Reported by PRWeb 4 hours ago.
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SculptMed, an Innovative New Medspa, Is Coming to Denver Area Soon
SculptMed owners and directors Drs. Julian Orenstein, David Stocker, and Robert Kilpatrick are pleased to announce the location of their new medspa at The Streets at SouthGlenn Mall in Centennial, CO. Convenient to South Denver communities, SculptMed is a physician-owned and -operated medspa providing the latest non-invasive aesthetic treatments.
Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 10, 2017
Dr. Julian Orenstein, Dr. David Stocker, and Dr. Robert Kilpatrick are excited to announce that they have signed a lease for their new medspa, SculptMed, at The Streets at SouthGlenn Mall. The Streets at SouthGlenn is a modern lifestyle destination and shopping experience in Centennial, featuring sidewalk cafés, restaurants, and a wide variety of leading retailers.
Inspired, created, and directed by doctors, SculptMed is a medical spa dedicated to helping patients in the Denver area reach their aesthetic and wellness goals. SculptMed’s competitive variety of treatments will help patients address a number of aesthetic concerns and conditions, from diet- and exercise-resistant fat to fine lines and wrinkles, unwanted hair, and cellulite. SculptMed will offer a number of leading aesthetic treatments, including Botox® and dermal fillers, SculpSure® non-invasive fat reduction, Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) skin rejuvenation therapy, skin tightening, tattoo removal, photofacials, and more.
Reflecting their holistic approach to health and beauty, SculptMed will also offer a suite of wellness services including IV Hydration therapy, which can relieve a host of ailments by restoring lost electrolytes resulting from the cold and flu, hangovers, altitude sickness, jet lag, heat exhaustion, and exercise.
The Streets at SouthGlenn in Centennial, where SculptMed is slated to open in June 2017, is convenient to patients in the Boulder, Lakewood, and Aurora areas. To learn more about services and treatments, call SculptMed at 720-287-1260 and visit http://www.sculptmed.net.
About SculptMed in Centennial, Colorado
Doctors Julian Orenstein, David Stocker, and Robert Kilpatrick have joined forces at SculptMed, bringing with them years of emergency medical expertise to provide the highest quality of laser and cosmetic treatments in the Denver area.
Treatments available at SculptMed will include Botox and other injectables, such as Juvéderm®, Voluma®, Sculptra®, Restylane®, Perlane®, Radiesse®, and Belotero Balance®. For fat-reduction, SculptMed will offer Kybella® and SculpSure. For non-invasive laser skin rejuvenation, SculptMed will provide IPL photofacials and non-ablative fractional laser skin resurfacing. Pellevé® skin tightening and Pellefirm cellulite reduction will also be available. Additional services will include clinical facials, IV infusion therapy, and Platelet-Rich-Plasma (PRP) skin rejuvenation.
About Dr. Robert Kilpatrick
Dr. Robert Kilpatrick is a board certified pediatrician who has worked for the last 12 years in the field of pediatric emergency medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has been the director and associate director of several pediatric emergency departments, and has been intimately involved with: the evolution of large urban emergency rooms into the premiere programs in their regions; the opening of new programs to serve fresh suburban markets; and the acquisition and growth management of young programs in rural communities. He has worked for over a decade as an associate professor with the University of Nevada, and has also conducted and published various bench and clinical research. He has spent much of his administrative career designing and implementing volume- and quality-care programs to address the needs of patients in the modern managed-care setting. Most recently, Dr. Kilpatrick was recruited to Colorado to open the new Sky Ridge Pediatric Emergency Department, where he is associate medical director. He is excited to bring his years of clinical expertise, customer service, department management, and service-line growth to SculptMed.
About Dr. Julian Orenstein
Dr. Julian Orenstein has been a physician since 1984, board certified in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine with 25 years of practice in the DC metro area. His clinical experience includes adults as well as children, and he has been an educator (associate professor at George Washington and Georgetown Medical Centers), researcher (peer-reviewed professional publications in Annals of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics), and full partner in an established hospital-based emergency group (MEP, an emergency medicine group providing service at seven Maryland emergency departments). As a respected physician with a long history of providing timely clinical care to his home community, he is opening a new phase in his career by creating a practice focused on the maintenance of wellness and health. He will be responsible for consults and treatment planning, overseeing all treatments provided by nurses and PA’s, and vetting/introducing new treatments as they become available.
About Dr. David Stocker
David Stocker, MD, MBA, is a board certified pediatric emergency medicine and general pediatrics physician in Denver, CO. Previously, he has been the director of a large urban pediatric emergency department as well as the chairman of the women and children’s department at a large hospital in the Denver area. He has also been listed in 5280 magazine’s Top Docs issue on multiple occasions. Currently, David is medical director of a new pediatric emergency department in Lone Tree, CO. David grew up in Denver and also went to undergrad, medical school and business school in the University of Colorado system. David received his MBA in Health Administration in 2009 from the University of Colorado at Denver. David has very strong family ties to the Denver area and is involved in the running and mountain biking communities. He has also been ranked in the past as one of the top rowers in the nation. Reported by PRWeb 4 hours ago.
Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 10, 2017
Dr. Julian Orenstein, Dr. David Stocker, and Dr. Robert Kilpatrick are excited to announce that they have signed a lease for their new medspa, SculptMed, at The Streets at SouthGlenn Mall. The Streets at SouthGlenn is a modern lifestyle destination and shopping experience in Centennial, featuring sidewalk cafés, restaurants, and a wide variety of leading retailers.
Inspired, created, and directed by doctors, SculptMed is a medical spa dedicated to helping patients in the Denver area reach their aesthetic and wellness goals. SculptMed’s competitive variety of treatments will help patients address a number of aesthetic concerns and conditions, from diet- and exercise-resistant fat to fine lines and wrinkles, unwanted hair, and cellulite. SculptMed will offer a number of leading aesthetic treatments, including Botox® and dermal fillers, SculpSure® non-invasive fat reduction, Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) skin rejuvenation therapy, skin tightening, tattoo removal, photofacials, and more.
Reflecting their holistic approach to health and beauty, SculptMed will also offer a suite of wellness services including IV Hydration therapy, which can relieve a host of ailments by restoring lost electrolytes resulting from the cold and flu, hangovers, altitude sickness, jet lag, heat exhaustion, and exercise.
The Streets at SouthGlenn in Centennial, where SculptMed is slated to open in June 2017, is convenient to patients in the Boulder, Lakewood, and Aurora areas. To learn more about services and treatments, call SculptMed at 720-287-1260 and visit http://www.sculptmed.net.
About SculptMed in Centennial, Colorado
Doctors Julian Orenstein, David Stocker, and Robert Kilpatrick have joined forces at SculptMed, bringing with them years of emergency medical expertise to provide the highest quality of laser and cosmetic treatments in the Denver area.
Treatments available at SculptMed will include Botox and other injectables, such as Juvéderm®, Voluma®, Sculptra®, Restylane®, Perlane®, Radiesse®, and Belotero Balance®. For fat-reduction, SculptMed will offer Kybella® and SculpSure. For non-invasive laser skin rejuvenation, SculptMed will provide IPL photofacials and non-ablative fractional laser skin resurfacing. Pellevé® skin tightening and Pellefirm cellulite reduction will also be available. Additional services will include clinical facials, IV infusion therapy, and Platelet-Rich-Plasma (PRP) skin rejuvenation.
About Dr. Robert Kilpatrick
Dr. Robert Kilpatrick is a board certified pediatrician who has worked for the last 12 years in the field of pediatric emergency medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has been the director and associate director of several pediatric emergency departments, and has been intimately involved with: the evolution of large urban emergency rooms into the premiere programs in their regions; the opening of new programs to serve fresh suburban markets; and the acquisition and growth management of young programs in rural communities. He has worked for over a decade as an associate professor with the University of Nevada, and has also conducted and published various bench and clinical research. He has spent much of his administrative career designing and implementing volume- and quality-care programs to address the needs of patients in the modern managed-care setting. Most recently, Dr. Kilpatrick was recruited to Colorado to open the new Sky Ridge Pediatric Emergency Department, where he is associate medical director. He is excited to bring his years of clinical expertise, customer service, department management, and service-line growth to SculptMed.
About Dr. Julian Orenstein
Dr. Julian Orenstein has been a physician since 1984, board certified in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine with 25 years of practice in the DC metro area. His clinical experience includes adults as well as children, and he has been an educator (associate professor at George Washington and Georgetown Medical Centers), researcher (peer-reviewed professional publications in Annals of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics), and full partner in an established hospital-based emergency group (MEP, an emergency medicine group providing service at seven Maryland emergency departments). As a respected physician with a long history of providing timely clinical care to his home community, he is opening a new phase in his career by creating a practice focused on the maintenance of wellness and health. He will be responsible for consults and treatment planning, overseeing all treatments provided by nurses and PA’s, and vetting/introducing new treatments as they become available.
About Dr. David Stocker
David Stocker, MD, MBA, is a board certified pediatric emergency medicine and general pediatrics physician in Denver, CO. Previously, he has been the director of a large urban pediatric emergency department as well as the chairman of the women and children’s department at a large hospital in the Denver area. He has also been listed in 5280 magazine’s Top Docs issue on multiple occasions. Currently, David is medical director of a new pediatric emergency department in Lone Tree, CO. David grew up in Denver and also went to undergrad, medical school and business school in the University of Colorado system. David received his MBA in Health Administration in 2009 from the University of Colorado at Denver. David has very strong family ties to the Denver area and is involved in the running and mountain biking communities. He has also been ranked in the past as one of the top rowers in the nation. Reported by PRWeb 4 hours ago.
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Stop The Murder Of Environmental Defenders In Latin America
*The Murder of Berta C*á*ceres *
In March 2016, I went to Mexico to receive the Mayahuel Award for human rights and environmental work at the Guadelajara International Film Festival. During my visit I learned that Berta Cáceres, environmental campaigner and head of the indigenous rights group Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous organizations of Honduras (COPINH), had been brutally murdered At around 11.30 pm on March 2nd gunmen broke into her home in La Esperanza, Honduras and shot her. I was shocked and deeply saddened.
When I accepted the Mayahuel Award, on March 12th I dedicated it to Berta Cáceres and those who struggle for the preservation of the earth and its people, to those standing up against the environmental devastation caused by the mega-extractive industries in Latin America and throughout the world.
Berta’s life was a symbol of unwavering courage and commitment to the defense of human rights and the protection of the environment. Her death was part of an epidemic of unconscionable murders of environmental defenders in Latin America. She was the 2015 winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize – a prestigious award recognizing grassroots environmental activists from around the world.Over the years leading up to her murder, Berta Cáceres received many death threats and survived several attempted kidnappings because of her work defending indigenous Lenca land against the Agua Zarca dam project in Río Blanco. The intimidation had escalated since construction of the dam had resumed. Berta Cáceres received 33 death threats during the three weeks preceding her death. Mexican activist Gustavo Castro Soto who was with Berta on the night of her murder was also wounded in the attack. He told Amnesty International, ‘It was clear that she was going to be killed.’
Berta Cáceres’s murder sounded alarm bells among environmentalists throughout the world. I signed the Global Witness letter on behalf of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, alongside fifty other international organizations. I wrote a personal letter to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. I said, I urge you to allow an internationally led independent investigation into Berta Cáceres murder. I also urged Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to protect activist Gustavo Castro Soto, the sole survivor of the attack on Berta, who was unjustifiably detained by the Honduran authorities and prevented from returning to his country. US Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry urging for better protection of environmental defenders in Honduras.
Investigations into Berta Cáceres murder have yielded troubling results. An independent inquiry by the Guardian newspaper revealed that the assassination was ‘extrajudicial killing planned by military intelligence specialists linked to the country’s US–trained special forces.’ Last year, the Guardian reported that a former Honduran soldier said he had seen Cáceres’s name on a hitlist that was passed to US-trained units. Eight men have been arrested in connection with the murder, including one serving and two retired military officers. ‘First Seargent Rodrigo Cruz, a former solider, said that two elite units had been given lists featuring the names and photographs of activists. They were ordered to eliminate each target. Cruz’s unit commander deserted rather than comply with the order. The rest of the unit were then sent on leave.’ Officials have denied any state involvement. Berta Cáceres’s murder prompted a global outcry and increased pressure from the international community for the US to withdraw military aid to Honduras. So far, to no avail.
Berta’s execution was a tragedy, a great loss to her loved ones, a blow to environmental protection in Honduras and an appalling crime for which there has been no justice. But it is far from unique. The murder of environmental defenders has become a human rights crisis.
*The Murder Epidemic*
In January and February 2017 alone, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) learned of 14 murders of human rights defenders: seven in Colombia, two in Guatemala, two in Mexico, and three in Nicaragua. During 2016 alone 281 activists across the world were murdered for their cause. Half of these were protecting land, indigenous rights or environmental rights. A further 185 environmental defenders were killed in 2015, the worst year on record; a death toll more than double that of journalists worldwide according to Global Witness and the World Resources Institute.
Brazil is the most dangerous country for environmental defenders ― 50 were murdered there during 2015. The Philippines took the dubious honour of second place with 33 activists killed and 26 murders were committed in Columbia during the same year, placing it third on the list.
*Honduras*
Berta Carceres’ murder is one of a long line of horrific killings in Honduras. Since 2010 more than 120 environmental campaigners have been killed in Honduras alone; the largest number of killings of environmental defenders per capita of any country in the world.
In the early hours of 22 October 2015 a group of thirty heavily-armed soldiers, police and civilians forced their way into Ana Miriam Romero’s home, drew their guns and beat her and her sister-in-law Rosaura. Both women were heavily pregnant at the time. Ana Miriam spent 11 days in hospital recovering. Her unborn child survived, but Rosaura lost her baby.
Ana Miriam Romero was the 2016 recipient of the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. She had taken a stand against the illegal construction of the Los Encinos hydroelectric dam on her community’s land. The dam project was controlled by the husband of Gladis Aurora Lopez, President of the ruling National Party. Romero was not the first environmental defender who opposed the dam to meet with violence. Three other indigenous activists had been killed. One man was found dismembered on the bank of the Chinacla River and the body of another, Juan Francisco Martínez, was found with burns across his body and his hands bound with laces from military boots. He had suffered death threats since the murder of his son in 2014. Since reporting the attack against her, Ana Miriam has again been threatened by gunmen, and in January 2016 she lost almost all of her family’s belongings in an arson attack on her home.
As Honduras’ biggest aid donor, the US wields significant influence over the country’s policies. In 2016, it contributed US$100 million in bilateral aid, which could be a huge boost to fighting poverty in a country which suffers the highest levels of inequality in the whole of Latin America. But tens of millions of aid dollars were directed to the police and military, both of which are heavily implicated in violence against land and environmental activists.
Meanwhile, the US continues to pump money into Honduran industry, despite concerns raised in Congress about the country’s dubious human rights record. The US embassy has been promoting ramped-up investment in Honduras’ extractive industries, for instance, with US mining giant Electrum already planning a US$1 billion investment.
Historically, many governments in Latin America have been weakening the legal protections for the forest and the land for years. The role of environmental campaigners is becoming more and more important, which means that the risks to their lives increase. Communities, indigenous people and their lands are under siege from some governments, mining, drilling, dams, logging and development. Instead of being empowered to use their ecological wisdom and understanding to protect and restore the rain forests, indigenous people face systematic human rights violations: persecution, murder and abuse.
*Chico Mendes and Brazil *
The murder of Chico Mendes in 1988 first drew the attention of the international community to the assassinations of human rights and environmental defenders in Latin America.
Nearly thirty years ago, a few days before Christmas 1988, Chico Mendes, leader of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) was shot dead in his home in the village of Xapuri, in the state of Acre in the western Brazilian Amazon. The policemen who had been assigned to guard him were playing cards at the kitchen table at the time. His murderer, a rancher named Darcy Alves da Silva, later said that murdering Mendes was just like ‘shooting a jaguar.’
Chico Mendes was 44 years old when he died. He was a rubber tapper, one of about 2,000 people who make a living collecting latex, nuts, resins, and fruits, sustainably harvesting the products of the Amazon forest, The rubber tappers’ movement led by Chico Mendes developed a proposal for ‘Extractive Reserves’, an innovative model for combining forest protection and sustainable management of natural resources, based on recognition of community land rights.
Marcio Thomaz Bastos, the chief prosecutor Darcy Alves da Silva’s trial, told the Associated Press: “This is a historic trial not only for Brazil, but the world. In Brazil, it is a test case against reckless lawlessness, and for the world, a marker of whether or not man will allow the Amazon to be destroyed.”
Brazil remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for land rights activists, with 61 killings last year, the highest level since 2003, (according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a Brazilian advocacy group.) Less than two months ago, on March 2oth, 2017, Waldomiro Costa Pereira, who like Chico Mendes was part of the MST, was recovering from an assassination attempt in a rural hospital in the state of Para. Five armed men stormed the hospital, surrounded his security guards, and then shot him.
On the 1st of May 2017 Brazilian farmers attacked the indigenous Gamela community with machetes and rifles, severing hands and feet and hospitalising thirteen people.
Conflicts over territory are common in Brazil where 1% of the population owns nearly half of the nation’s land, according to a 2016 study from the University of Windsor in Canada. Amnesty International states in their 2016 report that ‘Attacks, threats and killings targeting human rights defenders increased compared to 2015.’ At least 47 defenders were killed in Brazil between January and September 2016 – including small-scale farmers, peasants, rural workers, Indigenous Peoples including quilombola communities, fisherfolk, riverside dwellers and lawyers – in their fight for access to land and natural resources. ‘Killings, threats and attacks against human rights defenders were rarely investigated and remained largely unpunished.’
The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has denounced Brazil’s failure to demarcate or uphold demarcation of indigenous land in accordance with the Constitution, and the undermining of state institutions charged with protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
Brazil’s 1988 constitution recognises that the Indians have an ‘Original’ and inalienable right to occupy and use their traditional lands. If it can be shown that the tribe historically occupied and used that area of land, it is theirs by right - it should become demarcated land.
In the past, Brazil had an average of thirteen demarcations per year. Under President Dilma Rousseff this number sank to three a year. The demarcation process was slowed almost to a standstill by an unrelenting barrage of legislative proposals from Congressmen representing large agribusiness, mining corporations and the dam industry.
Now, demarcation has been dealt a fatal blow. No new lands have been demarcated for indigenous groups since President Dilma Rousseff was ousted in August 2016. Corporate interest is crippling the demarcation process for good with ordnances designed to prevent indigenous peoples from taking legal possession of their land in order to open it to development.*Dams in the Amazon*
I am deeply committed to defending the rights of indigenous people and communities threatened by development, and to raising awareness of the murder of human rights and environmental defenders in Latin America and throughout the world. These issues are the cornerstone of the work of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF) which I founded in 2005.
For many years I supported the communities and indigenous people threatened by the Belo Monte, Madeira and the Tapajós Dam complexes in Brazil. The BJHRF is campaigning against the Brazilian government’s plan to build at least 256 dams in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The dams will displace tens of thousands of people, destroy lives and devastate the environment, inundating at least 6,470 sq. km of the world’s largest tropical forest and threaten the survival of the Munduruku, Kayapo, Juruna, Arara and Xikrin indigenous peoples among many others. Some of the dams, including Belo Monte and Madeira are already operational. Even now the river system that provides a fifth of the world’s fresh water is being dammed, polluted and fouled up, causing irrevocable human and environmental destruction.
I went on a fact-finding mission to Xingu and the Madeira Rivers in 2012. I published a report on the Huffington Post, titled, Belo Monte: An Environmental Crime. I urge you to read it.
*Colombia*
In Colombia, “25 community leaders and civil society activists have been killed since 2017 began,” according to Human Rights Watch sources. The office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights in Colombia reported that 60 leading rights defenders were killed in 2016, a significant increase from the 41 in 2015. The Colombian NGO Somos Defensores reported 80 killings in 2016 and 63 in 2015.
Aldemar Parra Garcia, an advocate for communities displaced by coal mining and community leader of El Hatillo was killed on January 7 in rural Cesar. José Yimer Cartagena Usuga was found stabbed to death in Carepa, Antioquia, on January 10. He was the vice-president of a local farmer’s organization and a member of the human rights commission of Marcha Patriotica, a national left-wing political and social movement. Juan De la Cruz Mosquera of the Caño Seco community, murdered by Gaitanista paramilitaries on January 7. Two days later on January 9th they killed his son Moisés Mosquera Moreno who was thirty years old. Juan De la Cruz and Moises murders may have been motivated by their relation to Marino Córdoba, president of Afrodes and International Coordinator of the Afro-Colombian Peace Council (CONPA). They are not the first relatives of Mr. Cordoba’s to be murdered. His 21-year old son, Wilmar Cordoba Forero, was assassinated in October 2016. Emilsen Manyoma Mosquera and her partner Joe Javier Rodallega, both from the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space, were found dead in Buenaventura on January 16. Feiver Cerón, the president of a local council, was found dead in Mercaderes, Cauca, on February 18. He was shot eleven times.
On Wednesday 19th April Gerson Acosta, an indigenous leader and governor of the town of Timbío, in south-west Colombia, was shot dead by assailants on a motorbike as he left a community meeting. Gerson was a renowned human rights defender in the region of Cauca and a leader of a victims group belonging to the indigenous community of Kite Kiwe, who had been displaced in 2001 after a massacre committed by right-wing paramilitaries. Gerson’s murder is the 25th assassination of a community leader this year in Colombia.
*Guatemala*
The Guatemala Peace Accords of 1996 put an end to the longest and bloodiest of Latin America’s Cold War civil wars. During the conflict Between 150,000 and 200,000 civilians were murdered or vanished; most were indigenous people. Today, The Guatemala Human Rights Commission states that “Eighteen years after the signing of the Peace Accords, human rights violations in Guatemala have once again reached wartime levels… human rights activists and community leaders risk their lives to promote and defend the rights of Guatemalans.”
On November 12th 2016, 22 year-old Jeremy Abraham Barrios Lima was executed by two shots to the head as he was making his way home from a restaurant. Barrios Lima was the assistant to the director of the environmental advocacy organisation, the Guatemalan Centre for Legal, Environmental and Social Action (CALAS). Amnesty International has issued an urgent call for police to treat his murder as “a possible retaliation for the human rights work of the young leader and his activities in CALAS.”
The NGO International Rivers reports that on January 17 paramilitaries shot and killed 72-year-old activist Sebastian Alonso during a peaceful demonstration against a hydroelectric plant. Pojom I Hydroelectric Project is being constructed without the consent of local indigenous groups in Huehuetenango, in Guatemala’s western highlands. Sebastian Alonso was campaigning against the unregulated logging of old-growth forests in the Sierra Madre Mountains on the ancestral land of his people, the Tarahumara.
*Mexico *
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) expressed its ‘great concern regarding the dangerous uptick in violence and armed attacks against journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico’ during 2017.
In January 2017 Isidro Baldro Montenegro, a *Mexican* environmentalist was shot dead. Like Berta Cáceres, he was a winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize. Montenegro was a leader of the Rarámuri people in the Tarahumara Sierra Madre mountains, one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, which includes four vast forested canyons, each bigger than the Grand Canyon. Isidro Baldro Montenegro led a long non-violent campaign to protect these ancient forests.
Juan Ontiveros Ramos, another rarámuri leader worked to combat illegal logging and land grabs for illicit crop harvesting on ancestral lands, was abducted and brutally murdered on February 1.
The rarámuri are a peaceful, reclusive people who retreated to the mountains five hundred years ago to avoid the Spanish colonists. To the rarámuri each man of the tribe has three souls and each woman has four, as they are the producers of new life. They believe that every star in the night sky is a member of the tribe whose souls have all, finally, been extinguished.
The rarámuri’s ancestral lands, way of life and very existence is in danger from violence, drug trafficking, logging, land grabs, deforestation, corruption and many other threats. Juan Ontiveros Ramos and Isidro Baldro Montenegro were courageous defenders of their ancient tribes’ rights and land. The rarámuri have lost two of their champions.
*PERU*
On December 28th 2015, Mayor Rafael Rojas Gonzales was shot while walking home in Yagen, in the Cajamarca province of *Peru.* He was an outspoken opponent of the plans for a series of megadams on the Marañón River. The Marañón is the main source of the Amazon River. It begins in the Peruvian Andes and winds through the 1,700-kilometers of cloud forest, dry forest and lowland Amazon rainforest, rich in biodiversity, high in endemic species. Engineer Jose Serra Vega predicts that the dams will mean “biological death” for the region.
In September 2014, while I was in Lima Peru participating at COP20, the UN climate change conference, I heard the news that Edwin Chota Valera, Leoncio Quincima Meléndez, Jorge Ríos Pérez and Francisco Pinedo of the Ashéninka tribe were killed in an brutal quadruple murder in the Ucayali province to the west of Lima. They were killed for defending the rainforest that their communities depend on. Perez’s daughter told Newsweek, “It feels like a knife in my heart. Nothing will cure it. It will last forever. My father fought, and we will go on until we get change or we die.”
I denounced the murders and urged then-President Ollanta Humala Tasso to do everything in his power to investigate this crime, in my speeches at the conference and in my op-ed about COP20 in the Huffington Post.
*UN Protections*
As I researched the mortal danger that environmental and human rights campaigners face in Latin America, it became evident to me that there is a lack of effective legal mechanisms to protect them, as well as a lack of political will to investigate these murders and make the perpetrators accountable. There are several international instruments specifically designed to raise awareness of the plight of environmental and human rights campaigners and shield them from harm.
The UN began working towards a Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1984. In March 1999, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which is known as the “Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.” The Declaration states that ‘Environmental human rights defenders are at the heart of our future and the future of our planet. They play a critical part in ensuring that development is sustainable, inclusive, non-discriminatory and beneficial for all, and does not cause harm to the environment.’
In August 2000, Ms. Hina Jilani was named the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders. Ms. Margaret Sekaggya was appointed as the first Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in 2008 and Michael Forst succeeded her in 2014. Mr Forst “raises alarm about the increasing and intensifying violence against” human rights defenders. The Special Rapporteur stresses that empowering and protecting environmental human rights defenders is part and parcel of the overall protection of the environment. The UN urges all governments to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur. The Governments are also urged to implement and follow-up on her recommendations. The 2016 UN report, ‘Situation of human rights defenders’ emphasises the dire need for stronger laws and better implementation of protections for human rights defenders.
In March 2012 the Human Rights Council established a mandate on human rights and the environment, to study the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and promote best practices relating to the use of human rights in environmental policymaking. Mr. John Knox was appointed in August 2012 to a three-year term as the first Independent Expert on human rights obligations. His mandate was further extended in March 2015 for another three years as a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights on the Environment. In addition, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples by the Human Rights Council in 2014.
In March 2016 the UN human rights council adopted a landmark resolution requiring states to ensure the rights and safety of human rights defenders working towards the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.
The UN measures are encouraging, and the work of the special rapporteurs is invaluable in monitoring and making policy recommendations. The fact remains, however, that these are advisory bodies, oversight mechanisms and soft-law instruments: non binding and unenforceable.*IACHR*
The Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) is the judicial arm of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Court of can decide complaints concerning human rights violations and issue emergency protective measures. The Commission also engages in a range of human rights monitoring, while the Court may issue advisory opinions.
The Court may only decide cases brought against the OAS Member States that have specifically accepted the Court’s contentious jurisdiction - and those cases must first be processed by the Commission. Additionally, only States parties and the Commission may refer contentious cases to the Court. Currently, 23 OAS Member States have ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, 20 of whom have opted to accept the Court’s contentious jurisdiction in accordance with Article 62 of the American Convention. The 20 States over which the Court may exercise its contentious jurisdiction are: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay.
These are welcome measures, designed to address the pandemic of murder and violence against human rights and environmental defenders. There are many examples of the Court and the Commission achieving results to improve the status of human rights and environmental defenders in Latin America.
However, like the UN bodies they are non-binding and advisory judgements, difficult to enforce. Meanwhile, campaigners continue to be systematically persecuted and murdered with impunity throughout the world. Corporations and governments continue to collude in the name of profit and development, at the cost of lives, livelihoods and the fate of future generations.
*The Rest of the World*
The murder and abuse of environmental defenders is not restricted to Latin America. It is a worldwide epidemic. At least 33 environmental activists were murdered in the *Philippinnes *in 2015 *alone* making it one of the deadliest countries for land and environmental defenders. Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe was a community leader in Xolobeni, *South Africa* who opposed a titanium mine planned by Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC). Rhadebe was murdered in March 2016: shot eight times in the head in front of his son, by assassins who gained entry posing as police. In July 2015, Lobsang Yeshe, a *Tibetan* village head imprisoned for protesting against a mine in May 2014, died in custody. China continues to use expanded surveillance mechanisms to imprison environmental campaigners and community leaders, according to Human Rights Watch.
I could go on and on. There are too many horrific statistics and stories to recount here.
*Conclusion*
The slaughter of environmental defenders must stop. Governments must act and bring the culprits to justice and put in place enforceable protections in law. Regrettably in some cases governments are in collusion with hydroelectric, mining, oil, gas and other corporations. In some countries the murder of environmental defenders are perpetrated with no more consequences than ‘shooting a jaguar;’ in the chilling words of Darcy Alves da Silva, murderer of Chico Mendes.
Perpetrators will continue to walk free unless governments and the international community take action. As natural resources become scarcer, and the pressure upon them increases with increasing population, disputes over land rights, particularly where oil exploration, hydroelectric, mining agribusiness and logging are concerned, are intensifying. Communities and indigenous people are particularly hard hit and their fundamental rights to life and land are violated in many countries. Given the lack of binding international legal mechanisms to protect them, responsibility must fall on individual states.
Governments should lay out exactly how they will protect environmental defenders and the nation’s land, address the root causes of the violence they face, and guarantee that local communities can participate in decisions regarding the use of their land and natural resources; just as international law says they ought to. They must end impunity for murderers and thugs who terrorise communities and kill those who oppose them. John Knox, Michel Forst and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz write in their excellent article in the Guardian newspaper, ‘The brave women and men who risk their lives to protect the environment and rights of others should be lauded as heroes. Instead, the authorities typically fail to protect them, to investigate their deaths, or to punish those responsible.’
I could not agree more.
Governments and International financial institutions must make their aid and investment conditional on accountability: the implementation of safeguards for human rights, including environmental protection, rights of freedom of expression and association. Companies should not undertake projects in countries where these basic protections are not accorded. If they fail to keep their commitments, they should be penalised in their home countries and in the marketplace. The epidemic of violence against environmental defenders must be tackled on home soil, as well as abroad.
Chico Mendes said, before he died, ‘At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.” His words were prophetic. The struggle to save the rainforest throughout Latin America is part of the battle to save the world. We cannot protect the forests which produce 20% of the world’s oxygen unless we ensure safety for those who defend it.
I urge world leaders to heed the words of Berta Cáceres: ‘Mother nature- militarised, fenced in, poisoned - demands we take action.’type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related... + articlesList=5902524ce4b05279d4edba5d,58b87496e4b051155b4f8d0d
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 6 hours ago.
In March 2016, I went to Mexico to receive the Mayahuel Award for human rights and environmental work at the Guadelajara International Film Festival. During my visit I learned that Berta Cáceres, environmental campaigner and head of the indigenous rights group Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous organizations of Honduras (COPINH), had been brutally murdered At around 11.30 pm on March 2nd gunmen broke into her home in La Esperanza, Honduras and shot her. I was shocked and deeply saddened.
When I accepted the Mayahuel Award, on March 12th I dedicated it to Berta Cáceres and those who struggle for the preservation of the earth and its people, to those standing up against the environmental devastation caused by the mega-extractive industries in Latin America and throughout the world.
Berta’s life was a symbol of unwavering courage and commitment to the defense of human rights and the protection of the environment. Her death was part of an epidemic of unconscionable murders of environmental defenders in Latin America. She was the 2015 winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize – a prestigious award recognizing grassroots environmental activists from around the world.Over the years leading up to her murder, Berta Cáceres received many death threats and survived several attempted kidnappings because of her work defending indigenous Lenca land against the Agua Zarca dam project in Río Blanco. The intimidation had escalated since construction of the dam had resumed. Berta Cáceres received 33 death threats during the three weeks preceding her death. Mexican activist Gustavo Castro Soto who was with Berta on the night of her murder was also wounded in the attack. He told Amnesty International, ‘It was clear that she was going to be killed.’
Berta Cáceres’s murder sounded alarm bells among environmentalists throughout the world. I signed the Global Witness letter on behalf of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, alongside fifty other international organizations. I wrote a personal letter to Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. I said, I urge you to allow an internationally led independent investigation into Berta Cáceres murder. I also urged Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to protect activist Gustavo Castro Soto, the sole survivor of the attack on Berta, who was unjustifiably detained by the Honduran authorities and prevented from returning to his country. US Senator Barbara Boxer wrote a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry urging for better protection of environmental defenders in Honduras.
Investigations into Berta Cáceres murder have yielded troubling results. An independent inquiry by the Guardian newspaper revealed that the assassination was ‘extrajudicial killing planned by military intelligence specialists linked to the country’s US–trained special forces.’ Last year, the Guardian reported that a former Honduran soldier said he had seen Cáceres’s name on a hitlist that was passed to US-trained units. Eight men have been arrested in connection with the murder, including one serving and two retired military officers. ‘First Seargent Rodrigo Cruz, a former solider, said that two elite units had been given lists featuring the names and photographs of activists. They were ordered to eliminate each target. Cruz’s unit commander deserted rather than comply with the order. The rest of the unit were then sent on leave.’ Officials have denied any state involvement. Berta Cáceres’s murder prompted a global outcry and increased pressure from the international community for the US to withdraw military aid to Honduras. So far, to no avail.
Berta’s execution was a tragedy, a great loss to her loved ones, a blow to environmental protection in Honduras and an appalling crime for which there has been no justice. But it is far from unique. The murder of environmental defenders has become a human rights crisis.
*The Murder Epidemic*
In January and February 2017 alone, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) learned of 14 murders of human rights defenders: seven in Colombia, two in Guatemala, two in Mexico, and three in Nicaragua. During 2016 alone 281 activists across the world were murdered for their cause. Half of these were protecting land, indigenous rights or environmental rights. A further 185 environmental defenders were killed in 2015, the worst year on record; a death toll more than double that of journalists worldwide according to Global Witness and the World Resources Institute.
Brazil is the most dangerous country for environmental defenders ― 50 were murdered there during 2015. The Philippines took the dubious honour of second place with 33 activists killed and 26 murders were committed in Columbia during the same year, placing it third on the list.
*Honduras*
Berta Carceres’ murder is one of a long line of horrific killings in Honduras. Since 2010 more than 120 environmental campaigners have been killed in Honduras alone; the largest number of killings of environmental defenders per capita of any country in the world.
In the early hours of 22 October 2015 a group of thirty heavily-armed soldiers, police and civilians forced their way into Ana Miriam Romero’s home, drew their guns and beat her and her sister-in-law Rosaura. Both women were heavily pregnant at the time. Ana Miriam spent 11 days in hospital recovering. Her unborn child survived, but Rosaura lost her baby.
Ana Miriam Romero was the 2016 recipient of the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. She had taken a stand against the illegal construction of the Los Encinos hydroelectric dam on her community’s land. The dam project was controlled by the husband of Gladis Aurora Lopez, President of the ruling National Party. Romero was not the first environmental defender who opposed the dam to meet with violence. Three other indigenous activists had been killed. One man was found dismembered on the bank of the Chinacla River and the body of another, Juan Francisco Martínez, was found with burns across his body and his hands bound with laces from military boots. He had suffered death threats since the murder of his son in 2014. Since reporting the attack against her, Ana Miriam has again been threatened by gunmen, and in January 2016 she lost almost all of her family’s belongings in an arson attack on her home.
As Honduras’ biggest aid donor, the US wields significant influence over the country’s policies. In 2016, it contributed US$100 million in bilateral aid, which could be a huge boost to fighting poverty in a country which suffers the highest levels of inequality in the whole of Latin America. But tens of millions of aid dollars were directed to the police and military, both of which are heavily implicated in violence against land and environmental activists.
Meanwhile, the US continues to pump money into Honduran industry, despite concerns raised in Congress about the country’s dubious human rights record. The US embassy has been promoting ramped-up investment in Honduras’ extractive industries, for instance, with US mining giant Electrum already planning a US$1 billion investment.
Historically, many governments in Latin America have been weakening the legal protections for the forest and the land for years. The role of environmental campaigners is becoming more and more important, which means that the risks to their lives increase. Communities, indigenous people and their lands are under siege from some governments, mining, drilling, dams, logging and development. Instead of being empowered to use their ecological wisdom and understanding to protect and restore the rain forests, indigenous people face systematic human rights violations: persecution, murder and abuse.
*Chico Mendes and Brazil *
The murder of Chico Mendes in 1988 first drew the attention of the international community to the assassinations of human rights and environmental defenders in Latin America.
Nearly thirty years ago, a few days before Christmas 1988, Chico Mendes, leader of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) was shot dead in his home in the village of Xapuri, in the state of Acre in the western Brazilian Amazon. The policemen who had been assigned to guard him were playing cards at the kitchen table at the time. His murderer, a rancher named Darcy Alves da Silva, later said that murdering Mendes was just like ‘shooting a jaguar.’
Chico Mendes was 44 years old when he died. He was a rubber tapper, one of about 2,000 people who make a living collecting latex, nuts, resins, and fruits, sustainably harvesting the products of the Amazon forest, The rubber tappers’ movement led by Chico Mendes developed a proposal for ‘Extractive Reserves’, an innovative model for combining forest protection and sustainable management of natural resources, based on recognition of community land rights.
Marcio Thomaz Bastos, the chief prosecutor Darcy Alves da Silva’s trial, told the Associated Press: “This is a historic trial not only for Brazil, but the world. In Brazil, it is a test case against reckless lawlessness, and for the world, a marker of whether or not man will allow the Amazon to be destroyed.”
Brazil remains one of the world’s most dangerous countries for land rights activists, with 61 killings last year, the highest level since 2003, (according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a Brazilian advocacy group.) Less than two months ago, on March 2oth, 2017, Waldomiro Costa Pereira, who like Chico Mendes was part of the MST, was recovering from an assassination attempt in a rural hospital in the state of Para. Five armed men stormed the hospital, surrounded his security guards, and then shot him.
On the 1st of May 2017 Brazilian farmers attacked the indigenous Gamela community with machetes and rifles, severing hands and feet and hospitalising thirteen people.
Conflicts over territory are common in Brazil where 1% of the population owns nearly half of the nation’s land, according to a 2016 study from the University of Windsor in Canada. Amnesty International states in their 2016 report that ‘Attacks, threats and killings targeting human rights defenders increased compared to 2015.’ At least 47 defenders were killed in Brazil between January and September 2016 – including small-scale farmers, peasants, rural workers, Indigenous Peoples including quilombola communities, fisherfolk, riverside dwellers and lawyers – in their fight for access to land and natural resources. ‘Killings, threats and attacks against human rights defenders were rarely investigated and remained largely unpunished.’
The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz has denounced Brazil’s failure to demarcate or uphold demarcation of indigenous land in accordance with the Constitution, and the undermining of state institutions charged with protecting Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
Brazil’s 1988 constitution recognises that the Indians have an ‘Original’ and inalienable right to occupy and use their traditional lands. If it can be shown that the tribe historically occupied and used that area of land, it is theirs by right - it should become demarcated land.
In the past, Brazil had an average of thirteen demarcations per year. Under President Dilma Rousseff this number sank to three a year. The demarcation process was slowed almost to a standstill by an unrelenting barrage of legislative proposals from Congressmen representing large agribusiness, mining corporations and the dam industry.
Now, demarcation has been dealt a fatal blow. No new lands have been demarcated for indigenous groups since President Dilma Rousseff was ousted in August 2016. Corporate interest is crippling the demarcation process for good with ordnances designed to prevent indigenous peoples from taking legal possession of their land in order to open it to development.*Dams in the Amazon*
I am deeply committed to defending the rights of indigenous people and communities threatened by development, and to raising awareness of the murder of human rights and environmental defenders in Latin America and throughout the world. These issues are the cornerstone of the work of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF) which I founded in 2005.
For many years I supported the communities and indigenous people threatened by the Belo Monte, Madeira and the Tapajós Dam complexes in Brazil. The BJHRF is campaigning against the Brazilian government’s plan to build at least 256 dams in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The dams will displace tens of thousands of people, destroy lives and devastate the environment, inundating at least 6,470 sq. km of the world’s largest tropical forest and threaten the survival of the Munduruku, Kayapo, Juruna, Arara and Xikrin indigenous peoples among many others. Some of the dams, including Belo Monte and Madeira are already operational. Even now the river system that provides a fifth of the world’s fresh water is being dammed, polluted and fouled up, causing irrevocable human and environmental destruction.
I went on a fact-finding mission to Xingu and the Madeira Rivers in 2012. I published a report on the Huffington Post, titled, Belo Monte: An Environmental Crime. I urge you to read it.
*Colombia*
In Colombia, “25 community leaders and civil society activists have been killed since 2017 began,” according to Human Rights Watch sources. The office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights in Colombia reported that 60 leading rights defenders were killed in 2016, a significant increase from the 41 in 2015. The Colombian NGO Somos Defensores reported 80 killings in 2016 and 63 in 2015.
Aldemar Parra Garcia, an advocate for communities displaced by coal mining and community leader of El Hatillo was killed on January 7 in rural Cesar. José Yimer Cartagena Usuga was found stabbed to death in Carepa, Antioquia, on January 10. He was the vice-president of a local farmer’s organization and a member of the human rights commission of Marcha Patriotica, a national left-wing political and social movement. Juan De la Cruz Mosquera of the Caño Seco community, murdered by Gaitanista paramilitaries on January 7. Two days later on January 9th they killed his son Moisés Mosquera Moreno who was thirty years old. Juan De la Cruz and Moises murders may have been motivated by their relation to Marino Córdoba, president of Afrodes and International Coordinator of the Afro-Colombian Peace Council (CONPA). They are not the first relatives of Mr. Cordoba’s to be murdered. His 21-year old son, Wilmar Cordoba Forero, was assassinated in October 2016. Emilsen Manyoma Mosquera and her partner Joe Javier Rodallega, both from the Puente Nayero Humanitarian Space, were found dead in Buenaventura on January 16. Feiver Cerón, the president of a local council, was found dead in Mercaderes, Cauca, on February 18. He was shot eleven times.
On Wednesday 19th April Gerson Acosta, an indigenous leader and governor of the town of Timbío, in south-west Colombia, was shot dead by assailants on a motorbike as he left a community meeting. Gerson was a renowned human rights defender in the region of Cauca and a leader of a victims group belonging to the indigenous community of Kite Kiwe, who had been displaced in 2001 after a massacre committed by right-wing paramilitaries. Gerson’s murder is the 25th assassination of a community leader this year in Colombia.
*Guatemala*
The Guatemala Peace Accords of 1996 put an end to the longest and bloodiest of Latin America’s Cold War civil wars. During the conflict Between 150,000 and 200,000 civilians were murdered or vanished; most were indigenous people. Today, The Guatemala Human Rights Commission states that “Eighteen years after the signing of the Peace Accords, human rights violations in Guatemala have once again reached wartime levels… human rights activists and community leaders risk their lives to promote and defend the rights of Guatemalans.”
On November 12th 2016, 22 year-old Jeremy Abraham Barrios Lima was executed by two shots to the head as he was making his way home from a restaurant. Barrios Lima was the assistant to the director of the environmental advocacy organisation, the Guatemalan Centre for Legal, Environmental and Social Action (CALAS). Amnesty International has issued an urgent call for police to treat his murder as “a possible retaliation for the human rights work of the young leader and his activities in CALAS.”
The NGO International Rivers reports that on January 17 paramilitaries shot and killed 72-year-old activist Sebastian Alonso during a peaceful demonstration against a hydroelectric plant. Pojom I Hydroelectric Project is being constructed without the consent of local indigenous groups in Huehuetenango, in Guatemala’s western highlands. Sebastian Alonso was campaigning against the unregulated logging of old-growth forests in the Sierra Madre Mountains on the ancestral land of his people, the Tarahumara.
*Mexico *
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) expressed its ‘great concern regarding the dangerous uptick in violence and armed attacks against journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico’ during 2017.
In January 2017 Isidro Baldro Montenegro, a *Mexican* environmentalist was shot dead. Like Berta Cáceres, he was a winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize. Montenegro was a leader of the Rarámuri people in the Tarahumara Sierra Madre mountains, one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, which includes four vast forested canyons, each bigger than the Grand Canyon. Isidro Baldro Montenegro led a long non-violent campaign to protect these ancient forests.
Juan Ontiveros Ramos, another rarámuri leader worked to combat illegal logging and land grabs for illicit crop harvesting on ancestral lands, was abducted and brutally murdered on February 1.
The rarámuri are a peaceful, reclusive people who retreated to the mountains five hundred years ago to avoid the Spanish colonists. To the rarámuri each man of the tribe has three souls and each woman has four, as they are the producers of new life. They believe that every star in the night sky is a member of the tribe whose souls have all, finally, been extinguished.
The rarámuri’s ancestral lands, way of life and very existence is in danger from violence, drug trafficking, logging, land grabs, deforestation, corruption and many other threats. Juan Ontiveros Ramos and Isidro Baldro Montenegro were courageous defenders of their ancient tribes’ rights and land. The rarámuri have lost two of their champions.
*PERU*
On December 28th 2015, Mayor Rafael Rojas Gonzales was shot while walking home in Yagen, in the Cajamarca province of *Peru.* He was an outspoken opponent of the plans for a series of megadams on the Marañón River. The Marañón is the main source of the Amazon River. It begins in the Peruvian Andes and winds through the 1,700-kilometers of cloud forest, dry forest and lowland Amazon rainforest, rich in biodiversity, high in endemic species. Engineer Jose Serra Vega predicts that the dams will mean “biological death” for the region.
In September 2014, while I was in Lima Peru participating at COP20, the UN climate change conference, I heard the news that Edwin Chota Valera, Leoncio Quincima Meléndez, Jorge Ríos Pérez and Francisco Pinedo of the Ashéninka tribe were killed in an brutal quadruple murder in the Ucayali province to the west of Lima. They were killed for defending the rainforest that their communities depend on. Perez’s daughter told Newsweek, “It feels like a knife in my heart. Nothing will cure it. It will last forever. My father fought, and we will go on until we get change or we die.”
I denounced the murders and urged then-President Ollanta Humala Tasso to do everything in his power to investigate this crime, in my speeches at the conference and in my op-ed about COP20 in the Huffington Post.
*UN Protections*
As I researched the mortal danger that environmental and human rights campaigners face in Latin America, it became evident to me that there is a lack of effective legal mechanisms to protect them, as well as a lack of political will to investigate these murders and make the perpetrators accountable. There are several international instruments specifically designed to raise awareness of the plight of environmental and human rights campaigners and shield them from harm.
The UN began working towards a Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in 1984. In March 1999, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which is known as the “Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.” The Declaration states that ‘Environmental human rights defenders are at the heart of our future and the future of our planet. They play a critical part in ensuring that development is sustainable, inclusive, non-discriminatory and beneficial for all, and does not cause harm to the environment.’
In August 2000, Ms. Hina Jilani was named the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders. Ms. Margaret Sekaggya was appointed as the first Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in 2008 and Michael Forst succeeded her in 2014. Mr Forst “raises alarm about the increasing and intensifying violence against” human rights defenders. The Special Rapporteur stresses that empowering and protecting environmental human rights defenders is part and parcel of the overall protection of the environment. The UN urges all governments to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur. The Governments are also urged to implement and follow-up on her recommendations. The 2016 UN report, ‘Situation of human rights defenders’ emphasises the dire need for stronger laws and better implementation of protections for human rights defenders.
In March 2012 the Human Rights Council established a mandate on human rights and the environment, to study the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and promote best practices relating to the use of human rights in environmental policymaking. Mr. John Knox was appointed in August 2012 to a three-year term as the first Independent Expert on human rights obligations. His mandate was further extended in March 2015 for another three years as a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights on the Environment. In addition, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples by the Human Rights Council in 2014.
In March 2016 the UN human rights council adopted a landmark resolution requiring states to ensure the rights and safety of human rights defenders working towards the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.
The UN measures are encouraging, and the work of the special rapporteurs is invaluable in monitoring and making policy recommendations. The fact remains, however, that these are advisory bodies, oversight mechanisms and soft-law instruments: non binding and unenforceable.*IACHR*
The Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) is the judicial arm of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Court of can decide complaints concerning human rights violations and issue emergency protective measures. The Commission also engages in a range of human rights monitoring, while the Court may issue advisory opinions.
The Court may only decide cases brought against the OAS Member States that have specifically accepted the Court’s contentious jurisdiction - and those cases must first be processed by the Commission. Additionally, only States parties and the Commission may refer contentious cases to the Court. Currently, 23 OAS Member States have ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, 20 of whom have opted to accept the Court’s contentious jurisdiction in accordance with Article 62 of the American Convention. The 20 States over which the Court may exercise its contentious jurisdiction are: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay.
These are welcome measures, designed to address the pandemic of murder and violence against human rights and environmental defenders. There are many examples of the Court and the Commission achieving results to improve the status of human rights and environmental defenders in Latin America.
However, like the UN bodies they are non-binding and advisory judgements, difficult to enforce. Meanwhile, campaigners continue to be systematically persecuted and murdered with impunity throughout the world. Corporations and governments continue to collude in the name of profit and development, at the cost of lives, livelihoods and the fate of future generations.
*The Rest of the World*
The murder and abuse of environmental defenders is not restricted to Latin America. It is a worldwide epidemic. At least 33 environmental activists were murdered in the *Philippinnes *in 2015 *alone* making it one of the deadliest countries for land and environmental defenders. Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe was a community leader in Xolobeni, *South Africa* who opposed a titanium mine planned by Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC). Rhadebe was murdered in March 2016: shot eight times in the head in front of his son, by assassins who gained entry posing as police. In July 2015, Lobsang Yeshe, a *Tibetan* village head imprisoned for protesting against a mine in May 2014, died in custody. China continues to use expanded surveillance mechanisms to imprison environmental campaigners and community leaders, according to Human Rights Watch.
I could go on and on. There are too many horrific statistics and stories to recount here.
*Conclusion*
The slaughter of environmental defenders must stop. Governments must act and bring the culprits to justice and put in place enforceable protections in law. Regrettably in some cases governments are in collusion with hydroelectric, mining, oil, gas and other corporations. In some countries the murder of environmental defenders are perpetrated with no more consequences than ‘shooting a jaguar;’ in the chilling words of Darcy Alves da Silva, murderer of Chico Mendes.
Perpetrators will continue to walk free unless governments and the international community take action. As natural resources become scarcer, and the pressure upon them increases with increasing population, disputes over land rights, particularly where oil exploration, hydroelectric, mining agribusiness and logging are concerned, are intensifying. Communities and indigenous people are particularly hard hit and their fundamental rights to life and land are violated in many countries. Given the lack of binding international legal mechanisms to protect them, responsibility must fall on individual states.
Governments should lay out exactly how they will protect environmental defenders and the nation’s land, address the root causes of the violence they face, and guarantee that local communities can participate in decisions regarding the use of their land and natural resources; just as international law says they ought to. They must end impunity for murderers and thugs who terrorise communities and kill those who oppose them. John Knox, Michel Forst and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz write in their excellent article in the Guardian newspaper, ‘The brave women and men who risk their lives to protect the environment and rights of others should be lauded as heroes. Instead, the authorities typically fail to protect them, to investigate their deaths, or to punish those responsible.’
I could not agree more.
Governments and International financial institutions must make their aid and investment conditional on accountability: the implementation of safeguards for human rights, including environmental protection, rights of freedom of expression and association. Companies should not undertake projects in countries where these basic protections are not accorded. If they fail to keep their commitments, they should be penalised in their home countries and in the marketplace. The epidemic of violence against environmental defenders must be tackled on home soil, as well as abroad.
Chico Mendes said, before he died, ‘At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.” His words were prophetic. The struggle to save the rainforest throughout Latin America is part of the battle to save the world. We cannot protect the forests which produce 20% of the world’s oxygen unless we ensure safety for those who defend it.
I urge world leaders to heed the words of Berta Cáceres: ‘Mother nature- militarised, fenced in, poisoned - demands we take action.’type=type=RelatedArticlesblockTitle=Related... + articlesList=5902524ce4b05279d4edba5d,58b87496e4b051155b4f8d0d
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website. Reported by Huffington Post 6 hours ago.
↧
Lerøy Seafood Group ASA: Q1 2017 Results
*RECORD PRICES GENERATE RECORD OPERATING PROFIT*
In Q1 2017 Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) reported operating profit before fair value adjustments related to biological assets of NOK 1,277 million, compared with NOK 584 million in Q1 2016.
· CEO Henning Beltestad confirms: "For the first quarter of 2017, Lerøy Seafood Group can report their highest revenue and best operating profit of any quarter throughout the Group's history. The salmon and trout prices have remained very high throughout the first quarter and are the most significant driver behind the record result reported by the Group. However, release from stock costs remain at a high level and we are working hard to reduce these costs," confirms Henning Beltestad.
· "With the acquisitions of Havfisk and Norway Seafoods, LSG is now Norway's largest corporation within whitefish and has a major position within whitefish on a global scale. I am truly impressed by how the Group's employees have adapted to the new organisational structure while continuing to achieve record-high sales," continues Henning Beltestad. "2017 has gotten off to a great start, and the outlook is very promising. We very much look forward to further developing the market for whitefish," confirms the CEO.
Lerøy Seafood Group's revenue increased from NOK 3,815 million in Q1 2016 to NOK 5,459 million in Q1 2017. Compared with Q1 2016, the Group's slaughter volumes of salmon and trout increased by 13%. The Group's profit before tax and before fair value adjustments related to biological assets was NOK 1,294 million in Q1 2017, compared with NOK 592 million in Q1 2016.
At 31 March 2017, net interest-bearing debt was NOK 2,327 million and the equity ratio was 55%.
*NEW SEGMENTS*
With effect from 1 January 2017, the Group has divided its reporting into three segments. A description of the three segments - Wild Catch, Farming and VAP, Sales & Distribution - is provided below.
*WILD CATCH*
In the autumn of 2016, Lerøy Seafood Group obtained 100% ownership of both Havfisk ASA (Havfisk) and Norway Seafoods Group AS (renamed to Lerøy Norway Seafoods AS). Both companies were consolidated into Lerøy Seafood Group as of 1 September 2016 and make up the new Wild Catch segment.
Havfisk's primary business is wild catches of whitefish. Havfisk has license rights to harvest just above 10% of the total cod quotas in the zone north of 62 degrees latitude, corresponding to more than 30% of the total quota allocated to the trawler fleet.
Havfisk's total catch volume in Q1 2017 was 20,586 tonnes, compared with 16,169 tonnes in Q1 2016. The total harvest volume in Q1 2017 comprised 9,425 tonnes of cod, 7,380 tonnes of haddock and 2,841 tonnes of saithe. On comparison with Q1 2016, prices for cod were up 9%, prices for haddock were up 29% while prices for saithe were down 24%. The remaining quotas as of Q1 2017 are approximately 43,000 tonnes, on par with the remaining quotas at the same time last year.
Lerøy Norway Seafoods' (LNWS) primary business is processing wild caught whitefish. The company has eight processing plants, five of which are leased from Havfisk. LNWS is the largest purchaser of cod from the coastal fishing fleet in Norway.
The total contribution to operating profit made by these two companies in Q1 2017 was NOK 158 million.
*FARMING - HIGH HARVEST VOLUME*
Operating profit before fair value adjustments related to biological assets reported by the Farming segment increased from NOK 522 million in Q1 2016 to NOK 1,047 million in Q1 2017. The Farming segment harvested a total of 43,307 GWT salmon and trout in Q1 2017, up 13% from the same period in 2016. EBIT/kg increased from NOK 13.7 per kg in Q1 2016 to NOK 24.2 per kg in Q1 2017.
In Q1 2017, Lerøy Aurora achieved operational EBIT per kg of NOK 29.8. Lerøy Midt and Lerøy Sjøtroll are reporting EBIT per kg of NOK 24.1 and NOK 22.1 respectively for the same period.
· "It is good to finally confirm that trout prices, after almost three very difficult years, have seen a substantial improvement. At the time of writing, the spot price for trout is higher than for salmon, although the prices realised for trout in Q1 2017 are marginally lower than for salmon due to contracts," explains CEO Henning Beltestad in a comment. "During the first quarter, the Group increased its volume of salmon and trout by 13% when compared to the same period last year. The contract share in the first quarter was 32%," he continues.
"From an historical perspective, the release from stock costs for salmon and trout are extremely high, and there is in particular a considerable potential to reduce costs related to compliance with statutory limits for salmon lice. The Group has implemented a number of measures and investments to realise this potential, and developments to date in 2017 are positive," confirms CEO Henning Beltestad in a comment.
*VAP, SALES AND DISTRIBUTION (VAPS&D)*
The VAPS&D segment reported revenue in Q1 2017 of NOK 4,992 million, up 34% when compared with the same period last year. The operating profit before fair value adjustments related to biological assets was up from NOK 71 million in Q1 2016 to NOK 86 million in Q1 2017. This constitutes an operating margin before fair value adjustments related to biological assets of 1.7% in Q1 2017.
· "The downstream segment has reported a historically high level of activity in Q1 2017," confirms CEO Henning Beltestad. "The Group is already able to identify the positive results of the acquisition of whitefish operations on its marketing activities.
· Lerøy Seafood Group has a clearly defined ambition to drive a continuous process of market and product development. The Group has in-depth knowledge of the end market, and we believe that the strong growth in demand for seafood in general, and fresh seafood in a consumer-friendly format in particular, gives grounds for optimism for operations in the future," concludes Henning Beltestad.
*MARKET AND OUTLOOK*
The Group is in a transitional phase within production of salmon and trout, with extraordinarily high direct and indirect treatment costs, combined with increasing costs for prevention. Prevention costs are expected to increase in 2017, while costs related to treatment are expected to fall.
There is significant potential for reductions in treatment costs, and the Group has a clearly defined strategy and goal to realise this potential, while acknowledging that it remains difficult to specify a time line for such a development.
For a number of years now, the Board of Directors and management have clearly stated their views on the need for changes to regulations in Norway. The Board of Directors is of the opinion that a growth in demand over time is perhaps the most important driver for global competitiveness and increased value generation. From a long-term market perspective, the Norwegian fish farming industry is in a challenging situation at the start of 2017, as lack of growth in volume has resulted in very high prices. The Norwegian fish farming industry will only be able to retain its global competitiveness over a time frame of the next five to ten years if framework conditions facilitate growth in production in Norway. Framework conditions of this nature must be based on an understanding of environmental sustainability and value generation.
The White Paper on the "cod trawler fleet land-lock obligation system" has recommended substantial changes to the Group's framework conditions within whitefish. The Board of Directors and management are relieved to see that the Norwegian government has understood the need to modernise the framework conditions for the whitefish industry in Norway, but are not happy with the recommendation to reduce the Group's basic quota by 20%. It is essential for the Group to sustain its raw material basis in order to substantiate the Group's long-term industrial investments both at sea and on land. The Norwegian Parliament is expected to reach a decision on the White Paper during the second quarter of 2017.
The Group currently estimates a total harvest volume of 180,000 GWT salmon and trout for 2017, including LSG's volume from associates and a wild catch volume in excess of 60,000 tonnes.
The Group's harvested volume of salmon and trout will be significantly lower in Q2 2017 when compared with both Q1 2017 and Q2 2016. The Board of Directors therefore expects results before fair value adjustments in Q2 2017 to be substantially lower than in Q1 2017, but at the same time that the results before fair value adjustments for 2017 to be higher than in 2016.
Questions and comments may be addressed to the company's CEO, Henning Beltestad, or to the CFO, Sjur S. Malm.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
Q1 2017 Report
Q1 2017 Presentation
--------------------This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Lerøy Seafood Group ASA via GlobeNewswire
HUG#2103645 Reported by GlobeNewswire 32 minutes ago.
In Q1 2017 Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) reported operating profit before fair value adjustments related to biological assets of NOK 1,277 million, compared with NOK 584 million in Q1 2016.
· CEO Henning Beltestad confirms: "For the first quarter of 2017, Lerøy Seafood Group can report their highest revenue and best operating profit of any quarter throughout the Group's history. The salmon and trout prices have remained very high throughout the first quarter and are the most significant driver behind the record result reported by the Group. However, release from stock costs remain at a high level and we are working hard to reduce these costs," confirms Henning Beltestad.
· "With the acquisitions of Havfisk and Norway Seafoods, LSG is now Norway's largest corporation within whitefish and has a major position within whitefish on a global scale. I am truly impressed by how the Group's employees have adapted to the new organisational structure while continuing to achieve record-high sales," continues Henning Beltestad. "2017 has gotten off to a great start, and the outlook is very promising. We very much look forward to further developing the market for whitefish," confirms the CEO.
Lerøy Seafood Group's revenue increased from NOK 3,815 million in Q1 2016 to NOK 5,459 million in Q1 2017. Compared with Q1 2016, the Group's slaughter volumes of salmon and trout increased by 13%. The Group's profit before tax and before fair value adjustments related to biological assets was NOK 1,294 million in Q1 2017, compared with NOK 592 million in Q1 2016.
At 31 March 2017, net interest-bearing debt was NOK 2,327 million and the equity ratio was 55%.
*NEW SEGMENTS*
With effect from 1 January 2017, the Group has divided its reporting into three segments. A description of the three segments - Wild Catch, Farming and VAP, Sales & Distribution - is provided below.
*WILD CATCH*
In the autumn of 2016, Lerøy Seafood Group obtained 100% ownership of both Havfisk ASA (Havfisk) and Norway Seafoods Group AS (renamed to Lerøy Norway Seafoods AS). Both companies were consolidated into Lerøy Seafood Group as of 1 September 2016 and make up the new Wild Catch segment.
Havfisk's primary business is wild catches of whitefish. Havfisk has license rights to harvest just above 10% of the total cod quotas in the zone north of 62 degrees latitude, corresponding to more than 30% of the total quota allocated to the trawler fleet.
Havfisk's total catch volume in Q1 2017 was 20,586 tonnes, compared with 16,169 tonnes in Q1 2016. The total harvest volume in Q1 2017 comprised 9,425 tonnes of cod, 7,380 tonnes of haddock and 2,841 tonnes of saithe. On comparison with Q1 2016, prices for cod were up 9%, prices for haddock were up 29% while prices for saithe were down 24%. The remaining quotas as of Q1 2017 are approximately 43,000 tonnes, on par with the remaining quotas at the same time last year.
Lerøy Norway Seafoods' (LNWS) primary business is processing wild caught whitefish. The company has eight processing plants, five of which are leased from Havfisk. LNWS is the largest purchaser of cod from the coastal fishing fleet in Norway.
The total contribution to operating profit made by these two companies in Q1 2017 was NOK 158 million.
*FARMING - HIGH HARVEST VOLUME*
Operating profit before fair value adjustments related to biological assets reported by the Farming segment increased from NOK 522 million in Q1 2016 to NOK 1,047 million in Q1 2017. The Farming segment harvested a total of 43,307 GWT salmon and trout in Q1 2017, up 13% from the same period in 2016. EBIT/kg increased from NOK 13.7 per kg in Q1 2016 to NOK 24.2 per kg in Q1 2017.
In Q1 2017, Lerøy Aurora achieved operational EBIT per kg of NOK 29.8. Lerøy Midt and Lerøy Sjøtroll are reporting EBIT per kg of NOK 24.1 and NOK 22.1 respectively for the same period.
· "It is good to finally confirm that trout prices, after almost three very difficult years, have seen a substantial improvement. At the time of writing, the spot price for trout is higher than for salmon, although the prices realised for trout in Q1 2017 are marginally lower than for salmon due to contracts," explains CEO Henning Beltestad in a comment. "During the first quarter, the Group increased its volume of salmon and trout by 13% when compared to the same period last year. The contract share in the first quarter was 32%," he continues.
"From an historical perspective, the release from stock costs for salmon and trout are extremely high, and there is in particular a considerable potential to reduce costs related to compliance with statutory limits for salmon lice. The Group has implemented a number of measures and investments to realise this potential, and developments to date in 2017 are positive," confirms CEO Henning Beltestad in a comment.
*VAP, SALES AND DISTRIBUTION (VAPS&D)*
The VAPS&D segment reported revenue in Q1 2017 of NOK 4,992 million, up 34% when compared with the same period last year. The operating profit before fair value adjustments related to biological assets was up from NOK 71 million in Q1 2016 to NOK 86 million in Q1 2017. This constitutes an operating margin before fair value adjustments related to biological assets of 1.7% in Q1 2017.
· "The downstream segment has reported a historically high level of activity in Q1 2017," confirms CEO Henning Beltestad. "The Group is already able to identify the positive results of the acquisition of whitefish operations on its marketing activities.
· Lerøy Seafood Group has a clearly defined ambition to drive a continuous process of market and product development. The Group has in-depth knowledge of the end market, and we believe that the strong growth in demand for seafood in general, and fresh seafood in a consumer-friendly format in particular, gives grounds for optimism for operations in the future," concludes Henning Beltestad.
*MARKET AND OUTLOOK*
The Group is in a transitional phase within production of salmon and trout, with extraordinarily high direct and indirect treatment costs, combined with increasing costs for prevention. Prevention costs are expected to increase in 2017, while costs related to treatment are expected to fall.
There is significant potential for reductions in treatment costs, and the Group has a clearly defined strategy and goal to realise this potential, while acknowledging that it remains difficult to specify a time line for such a development.
For a number of years now, the Board of Directors and management have clearly stated their views on the need for changes to regulations in Norway. The Board of Directors is of the opinion that a growth in demand over time is perhaps the most important driver for global competitiveness and increased value generation. From a long-term market perspective, the Norwegian fish farming industry is in a challenging situation at the start of 2017, as lack of growth in volume has resulted in very high prices. The Norwegian fish farming industry will only be able to retain its global competitiveness over a time frame of the next five to ten years if framework conditions facilitate growth in production in Norway. Framework conditions of this nature must be based on an understanding of environmental sustainability and value generation.
The White Paper on the "cod trawler fleet land-lock obligation system" has recommended substantial changes to the Group's framework conditions within whitefish. The Board of Directors and management are relieved to see that the Norwegian government has understood the need to modernise the framework conditions for the whitefish industry in Norway, but are not happy with the recommendation to reduce the Group's basic quota by 20%. It is essential for the Group to sustain its raw material basis in order to substantiate the Group's long-term industrial investments both at sea and on land. The Norwegian Parliament is expected to reach a decision on the White Paper during the second quarter of 2017.
The Group currently estimates a total harvest volume of 180,000 GWT salmon and trout for 2017, including LSG's volume from associates and a wild catch volume in excess of 60,000 tonnes.
The Group's harvested volume of salmon and trout will be significantly lower in Q2 2017 when compared with both Q1 2017 and Q2 2016. The Board of Directors therefore expects results before fair value adjustments in Q2 2017 to be substantially lower than in Q1 2017, but at the same time that the results before fair value adjustments for 2017 to be higher than in 2016.
Questions and comments may be addressed to the company's CEO, Henning Beltestad, or to the CFO, Sjur S. Malm.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
Q1 2017 Report
Q1 2017 Presentation
--------------------This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Lerøy Seafood Group ASA via GlobeNewswire
HUG#2103645 Reported by GlobeNewswire 32 minutes ago.
↧
Magna’s profit beats estimates on higher demand
The Aurora, Ontario-based company also raised its total production sales forecast to $30.8-billion to $32.1 billion
Reported by Globe and Mail 2 hours ago.
↧
Atos signs new contract with BBC for technology services
*New Enterprise ICT contract completes major BBC tech re-procurement project*
*Paris, London, 11 May 2017-* Atos, a leader in digital transformation, announces that it has signed a new five year deal with the BBC to provide technology services. Atos supports the BBC's digital transformation and will provide staff with simple to use, quality tools and systems, helping them continue to make world-class programmes and services. The new contract delivers substantial savings to the BBC.
It is the final contract to be procured under the BBC's Aurora Programme, which has now re-sourced the Corporation's core technology services. The BBC has now fully moved to a multi-supplier model, which will see services delivered by a combination of third parties and BBC in-house teams, giving the BBC better value, greater flexibility and access to new technology as it emerges.
*Anne Bulford, Deputy Director-General of the BBC* , said: " The BBC has made significant savings over the past Charter to ensure as much of our money goes straight into the programmes and services people love. With this contract we're once again cutting the cost of running the BBC so we can continue to fund quality programmes and improve services for audiences. "
The new contract covers a range of core technology and services staff use in their everyday work, including laptops, phones, business applications, hosting services and a technology helpdesk. It also gives the BBC more control and flexibility over its technology choices, enabling the broadcaster to adopt new technology as needed, giving staff the tools they need while continuing to make the organisation more efficient.
The contract follows an exhaustive public procurement process and is for five years, with an option for the BBC to extend for up to a further three. New services will begin going live later this year.
*Matthew Postgate, Chief Technology and Product Officer at the BBC* , said: " The BBC is reinventing itself for a new generation and the technology we use is critical to that mission. Today's deal allows us to improve the way we work, making our systems and tools simpler and more efficient. It completes a major piece of work re-sourcing our core technology services, allowing us to drive the use of IP technology in broadcasting and make the BBC internet-fit ."
*Adrian Gregory, CEO, Atos UK&I* said: " I am delighted Atos has been able to secure this new contract with the BBC. This builds on our existing relationship delivering many successful projects together in recent times. The new service will provide a fantastic end user experience taking advantage of new technologies such as automation and analytics, whilst also providing significant cost savings. It will enable staff to be more connected and better able to carry out their work for the BBC whatever their role. I look forward to further strengthening our relationship and delivering many more successful projects together ".
####
*About Atos*
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 72 countries and annual revenue of around € 12 billion. The European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and Digital Workplace, The Group provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across various business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Energy & Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.
*Press contact:*
Sylvie Raybaud - sylvie.raybaud@atos.net - +33 6 95 91 96 71 - @Sylvie_Raybaud
Click here for the pdf version
--------------------This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: ATOS via GlobeNewswire
HUG#2104006 Reported by GlobeNewswire 3 hours ago.
*Paris, London, 11 May 2017-* Atos, a leader in digital transformation, announces that it has signed a new five year deal with the BBC to provide technology services. Atos supports the BBC's digital transformation and will provide staff with simple to use, quality tools and systems, helping them continue to make world-class programmes and services. The new contract delivers substantial savings to the BBC.
It is the final contract to be procured under the BBC's Aurora Programme, which has now re-sourced the Corporation's core technology services. The BBC has now fully moved to a multi-supplier model, which will see services delivered by a combination of third parties and BBC in-house teams, giving the BBC better value, greater flexibility and access to new technology as it emerges.
*Anne Bulford, Deputy Director-General of the BBC* , said: " The BBC has made significant savings over the past Charter to ensure as much of our money goes straight into the programmes and services people love. With this contract we're once again cutting the cost of running the BBC so we can continue to fund quality programmes and improve services for audiences. "
The new contract covers a range of core technology and services staff use in their everyday work, including laptops, phones, business applications, hosting services and a technology helpdesk. It also gives the BBC more control and flexibility over its technology choices, enabling the broadcaster to adopt new technology as needed, giving staff the tools they need while continuing to make the organisation more efficient.
The contract follows an exhaustive public procurement process and is for five years, with an option for the BBC to extend for up to a further three. New services will begin going live later this year.
*Matthew Postgate, Chief Technology and Product Officer at the BBC* , said: " The BBC is reinventing itself for a new generation and the technology we use is critical to that mission. Today's deal allows us to improve the way we work, making our systems and tools simpler and more efficient. It completes a major piece of work re-sourcing our core technology services, allowing us to drive the use of IP technology in broadcasting and make the BBC internet-fit ."
*Adrian Gregory, CEO, Atos UK&I* said: " I am delighted Atos has been able to secure this new contract with the BBC. This builds on our existing relationship delivering many successful projects together in recent times. The new service will provide a fantastic end user experience taking advantage of new technologies such as automation and analytics, whilst also providing significant cost savings. It will enable staff to be more connected and better able to carry out their work for the BBC whatever their role. I look forward to further strengthening our relationship and delivering many more successful projects together ".
####
*About Atos*
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 72 countries and annual revenue of around € 12 billion. The European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and Digital Workplace, The Group provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across various business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Energy & Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.
*Press contact:*
Sylvie Raybaud - sylvie.raybaud@atos.net - +33 6 95 91 96 71 - @Sylvie_Raybaud
Click here for the pdf version
--------------------This announcement is distributed by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions on behalf of NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: ATOS via GlobeNewswire
HUG#2104006 Reported by GlobeNewswire 3 hours ago.
↧
↧
(VIDEO Review) Canada Goose Youth Sherwood Jacket, Aurora Green, Large
(VIDEO Review) Canada Goose Youth Sherwood Jacket, Aurora Green, Large
Reported by Sports World Report 5 hours ago.
↧
Magna Announces 2017 Annual Meeting Results
AURORA, Ontario, May 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Magna International Inc. (TSX: MG; NYSE: MGA) today announced voting results from its 2017 annual meeting of shareholders. A total of 277,209,607 Comm...
Reported by FinanzNachrichten.de 4 hours ago.
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Aurora police identify homicide suspect as armed and dangerous
Shawrae Butler, 20, is wanted on suspicion of first-degree murder in the April killing of Queen Ashby.
Reported by Denver Post 2 hours ago.
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(VIDEO Review) Canada Goose Baby Pup Bunting, Aurora Green, 6-12 Color: Aurora Green Size: 6-12 Model: 5073B (Newborn, Child, Infant)
(VIDEO Review) Canada Goose Baby Pup Bunting, Aurora Green, 6-12 Color: Aurora Green Size: 6-12 Model: 5073B (Newborn, Child, Infant)
Reported by Sports World Report 28 minutes ago.
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LearnHowToBecome.org Determines Best Colleges in Illinois List for 2017
Student Outcomes, Career Success Metrics Used to Rank Top 99 Schools for Overall Excellence
San Francisco (PRWEB) May 05, 2017
LearnHowToBecome.org, a leading resource provider for higher education and career information, has released its list of the Best Colleges in Illinois for 2017. 50 four-year colleges were ranked, with Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Bradley University, Illinois Institute of Technology and Augustana College taking the top five spots on the list. 49 two-year schools were also selected; Carl Sandburg College, Illinois Central College, Richland Community College, Rend Lake College and Lincoln Land Community College were the top five. A complete list of schools is included below.
“The schools on our list have shown that they offer outstanding educational programs that set students up for post-college success,” said Wes Ricketts, senior vice president of LearnHowToBecome.org. “Students exploring higher education options in Illinois can also look to these schools to provide top-quality resources that help maximize the overall educational experience.”
To be included on the “Best Colleges in Illinois” list, all schools must be not-for-profit and regionally accredited. Each college is also evaluated metrics including annual alumni earnings, the opportunity for employment services and academic counseling, the selection of degree programs offered, financial aid availability and graduation rates.
Complete details on each college, their individual scores and the data and methodology used to determine the LearnHowToBecome.org “Best Colleges in Illinois” list, visit:
http://www.learnhowtobecome.org/college/illinois/
The Best Four-Year Colleges in Illinois for 2017 include:
Augustana College
Aurora University
Benedictine University
Blackburn College
Bradley University
Chicago State University
Concordia University-Chicago
DePaul University
Dominican University
Eastern Illinois University
Elmhurst College
Eureka College
Governors State University
Greenville College
Illinois College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois State University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Judson University
Knox College
Lake Forest College
Lewis University
Loyola University Chicago
MacMurray College
McKendree University
Millikin University
Monmouth College
National Louis University
North Central College
North Park University
Northern Illinois University
Northwestern University
Olivet Nazarene University
Principia College
Quincy University
Rockford University
Roosevelt University
Rush University
Saint Xavier University
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
Trinity Christian College
Trinity International University-Illinois
University of Chicago
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Illinois at Springfield
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of St Francis
Western Illinois University
Wheaton College
The Best Two-Year Colleges in Illinois for 2017 include:
Black Hawk College
Carl Sandburg College
City Colleges of Chicago - Harry S Truman College
City Colleges of Chicago - Malcolm X College
City Colleges of Chicago - Wilbur Wright College
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College
City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College
City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey College
City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College
College of DuPage
College of Lake County
Danville Area Community College
Elgin Community College
Frontier Community College
Harper College
Heartland Community College
Highland Community College
Illinois Central College
Illinois Valley Community College
John A Logan College
John Wood Community College
Joliet Junior College
Kankakee Community College
Kaskaskia College
Kishwaukee College
Lake Land College
Lewis and Clark Community College
Lincoln Land Community College
Lincoln Trail College
MacCormac College
McHenry County College
Moraine Valley Community College
Morton College
Oakton Community College
Olney Central College
Parkland College
Prairie State College
Rend Lake College
Richland Community College
Rock Valley College
Sauk Valley Community College
Shawnee Community College
South Suburban College
Southeastern Illinois College
Southwestern Illinois College
Spoon River College
Triton College
Wabash Valley College
Waubonsee Community College
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About Us: LearnHowtoBecome.org was founded in 2013 to provide data and expert driven information about employment opportunities and the education needed to land the perfect career. Our materials cover a wide range of professions, industries and degree programs, and are designed for people who want to choose, change or advance their careers. We also provide helpful resources and guides that address social issues, financial aid and other special interest in higher education. Information from LearnHowtoBecome.org has proudly been featured by more than 700 educational institutions. Reported by PRWeb 1 week ago.
San Francisco (PRWEB) May 05, 2017
LearnHowToBecome.org, a leading resource provider for higher education and career information, has released its list of the Best Colleges in Illinois for 2017. 50 four-year colleges were ranked, with Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Bradley University, Illinois Institute of Technology and Augustana College taking the top five spots on the list. 49 two-year schools were also selected; Carl Sandburg College, Illinois Central College, Richland Community College, Rend Lake College and Lincoln Land Community College were the top five. A complete list of schools is included below.
“The schools on our list have shown that they offer outstanding educational programs that set students up for post-college success,” said Wes Ricketts, senior vice president of LearnHowToBecome.org. “Students exploring higher education options in Illinois can also look to these schools to provide top-quality resources that help maximize the overall educational experience.”
To be included on the “Best Colleges in Illinois” list, all schools must be not-for-profit and regionally accredited. Each college is also evaluated metrics including annual alumni earnings, the opportunity for employment services and academic counseling, the selection of degree programs offered, financial aid availability and graduation rates.
Complete details on each college, their individual scores and the data and methodology used to determine the LearnHowToBecome.org “Best Colleges in Illinois” list, visit:
http://www.learnhowtobecome.org/college/illinois/
The Best Four-Year Colleges in Illinois for 2017 include:
Augustana College
Aurora University
Benedictine University
Blackburn College
Bradley University
Chicago State University
Concordia University-Chicago
DePaul University
Dominican University
Eastern Illinois University
Elmhurst College
Eureka College
Governors State University
Greenville College
Illinois College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois State University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Judson University
Knox College
Lake Forest College
Lewis University
Loyola University Chicago
MacMurray College
McKendree University
Millikin University
Monmouth College
National Louis University
North Central College
North Park University
Northern Illinois University
Northwestern University
Olivet Nazarene University
Principia College
Quincy University
Rockford University
Roosevelt University
Rush University
Saint Xavier University
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
Trinity Christian College
Trinity International University-Illinois
University of Chicago
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Illinois at Springfield
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of St Francis
Western Illinois University
Wheaton College
The Best Two-Year Colleges in Illinois for 2017 include:
Black Hawk College
Carl Sandburg College
City Colleges of Chicago - Harry S Truman College
City Colleges of Chicago - Malcolm X College
City Colleges of Chicago - Wilbur Wright College
City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College
City Colleges of Chicago-Kennedy-King College
City Colleges of Chicago-Olive-Harvey College
City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College
College of DuPage
College of Lake County
Danville Area Community College
Elgin Community College
Frontier Community College
Harper College
Heartland Community College
Highland Community College
Illinois Central College
Illinois Valley Community College
John A Logan College
John Wood Community College
Joliet Junior College
Kankakee Community College
Kaskaskia College
Kishwaukee College
Lake Land College
Lewis and Clark Community College
Lincoln Land Community College
Lincoln Trail College
MacCormac College
McHenry County College
Moraine Valley Community College
Morton College
Oakton Community College
Olney Central College
Parkland College
Prairie State College
Rend Lake College
Richland Community College
Rock Valley College
Sauk Valley Community College
Shawnee Community College
South Suburban College
Southeastern Illinois College
Southwestern Illinois College
Spoon River College
Triton College
Wabash Valley College
Waubonsee Community College
###
About Us: LearnHowtoBecome.org was founded in 2013 to provide data and expert driven information about employment opportunities and the education needed to land the perfect career. Our materials cover a wide range of professions, industries and degree programs, and are designed for people who want to choose, change or advance their careers. We also provide helpful resources and guides that address social issues, financial aid and other special interest in higher education. Information from LearnHowtoBecome.org has proudly been featured by more than 700 educational institutions. Reported by PRWeb 1 week ago.
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Big Wonderful: The business plan behind the ever-moving festival
Building a brand by moving a signature event from place to place hasn’t been a commonly accepted strategy since the days of traveling medicine shows. But don’t tell that to Josh Sampson. When Sampson’s The Big Wonderful opens its fourth season spotlighting local retailers, restaurants, brewers and bands today, it will be at its fourth different location. Born in the former Sustainability Park in Denver’s River North neighborhood, it spent time last year in Littleton and Aurora as well before…
Reported by bizjournals 1 week ago.
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Heartbroken parents' devotion to little Carys means her legacy...
A devoted mum and dad are praising Hull medics and raising money for the charity who helped them following the tragic death of their beloved baby daughter. Helen Whitehouse reports Just hours after Megan Greasley noticed her unborn baby was moving less, she found herself having an emergency cesarean - despite her due date being 13 weeks away. Her beautiful daughter Carys Aurora Greasley was born at Hull Royal Infirmary, weighing a tiny 1.3lb but fought the odds at first by thriving. But...
Reported by Hull Daily Mail 5 hours ago.
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