Transforming Pain Into Hope: Human Rights Defenders in the Americas

This is how Laisa Santos Sampaio sums up her current situation. Laisa Santos, a mother of eight and a school teacher, has been at the forefront of her community's opposition to the destruction of the Brazilian forest. She is also a member of a women's artisan project (Grupo de Trabalhadoras Artesanais Extrativistas), which was set up to promote sustainable development. Their opposition to logging has placed project members at considerable risk in a region in which illegal exploitation of the forest is commonplace and where there are continued killings and attacks against those who defend the Amazon.1 In the last two years, at least 20 people, including La?sa Santos? sister and brother-in-law ? Maria and Jos? Cl?udio Ribeiro da Silva ? have been killed because of their campaigning on environmental issues and against illegal logging in the region.