In April 2024, the government of Suriname approved a gold-mining concession. 

Nearly half of that concession is inside traditional territory, in an intact rainforest, rich in life and sacred to the Saamaka people. Mining was set to begin in 2026.

In December 2025, more than 125 Saamaka community members came together and issued the Goejaba Declaration, peacefully rejecting the concession and demanding that mining stop on their land. They marched and delivered it to the president and the national assembly. 

Using maps from the National Monitoring System of Suriname (image), the community was able to prove that the concession violated Saamaka territorial rights.

The project is now on hold. But those who spoke out are now being threatened, including Hugo Jabini, Saamaka leader and human rights defender, who is standing up to mining in his people’s territory.

This is not an isolated case: Between 2023 and 2024, nearly 2,500 attacks against land and environmental defenders were documented worldwide. 

58% of these attacks occurred in Latin America.

We call on President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, President of Suriname, to: 

• Guarantee immediate protection for Hugo Jabini and other Saamaka leaders
• Reject the nine current gold mining plans that overlap with the Western part of the Saamaka territory and any future extractive projects anywhere on their ancestral land.

Protecting people who defend land is essential to protecting forests, rivers and all life on Earth. 

Share the petition and support the Saamaka people.