Environmental Human Rights Defenders: Legal Protections across International Borders
Part I: What are Environmental Human Rights Defenders?
Shared with permission from Tamo Campos, Beyond Boarding.
Internationally, environmental and human rights defenders have been increasingly persecuted for their work in promoting conservation efforts and climate change awareness. Their activism, often indigenous-led, has also escalated in urgency based on environmental degradation due to extractivism and climate-related pressures. This series will explore the international legal protections for these “(environmental) human rights defenders” (EHDRs or HDRs).
These terms (EDHR or HRD) describe people working to realize “...the rights and fundamental freedoms as they relate to the enjoyment of a safe, healthy and sustainable environment,” in a professional or personal capacity, individually or as a collective. The United Nations quantifies that the actions taken by (Environmental) Human Rights Defenders “...must be peaceful in order to comply with the Declaration on human rights defenders.”
In a nine year period, between 2002 and 2013, 908 people in 35 countries were killed because of their work on environment and land issues; these statistics speak only to known deaths, excluding those that were unreported, and other methods of persecution which did not result in death. This number rose to 1,558 people killed in 50 states by 2017 for protecting land, water or wildlife. EHRDs have been under increasing attack recently as world and media attention shifted to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whose responsibility is it to “defend the defenders”? Which international legal instruments are applicable to EHRD protection? In this series, we will explore the responsibility of international governmental panels and states to intervene, jurisdictional boundaries, and existing/emerging agreement such as the Escazú Agreement and the UN Environmental Defenders Policy.
John Knox, former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment has spoken out about this violation of rights, saying:
“[f]or their tireless work in empowering communities and protecting ecosystems, environmental defenders are killed in startling numbers. Murder is not the only way environmental defenders are persecuted; for every 1 killed, there are 20 to 100 others harassed, unlawfully and lawfully arrested, and sued for defamation, amongst other intimidations.”
Considerations about indigeneity as a common uniting factor among EDHRs, and the intersection of Indigenous and environmental values will bring context to the continued violence against these activists.
Tune in next time to learn about United Nations Conventions utilized for the protection of EHRDs!
References:
“Environmental Human Rights Defenders - Call for inputs”, online: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“About human rights defenders Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders”, online: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“Deadly Environment: The dramatic rise in killings of environmental and land defenders”, (18 December 2017), online: Global Initiative.
Jonathan Watts. “Environmental activist murders double in 15 years”, (5 August 2019), online: The Guardian.
Nina Lakhai. “Costa Rican indigenous land activist killed by armed mob”, (25 February 2020), online: The Guardian.
John Knox, “Who are environmental defenders?”, online: UNEP - UN Environment Programme.
Adapted from an Academic Paper submitted for “International Environmental Law,” Osgoode Law Hall & the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University; 2020.
