Public Roundtable | Supporting environmental defenders: How can we mobilize the international community?

As a follow-up to the HRC Resolution 40/11, a Geneva Road Map seeking to ensure the effective implementation of the right to act for the protection of the environment and to promote free and safe spaces for information and discussion on environmental matters, is being launched by the University of Geneva and partners. It included a 2-day technical workshop, a public dialogue (26 February), and a side event at the Human Rights Council (27 February).

About this Session

As a global hub of international diplomacy, how can the international community in Geneva be mobilized to help protect environmental defenders and civic spaces?

This public event combined testimonies from environmental defenders with recent academic analysis and responses from high-level representatives from International Geneva and the Mayor of Geneva.

The event was organized in the context of the international conference “Towards a Geneva Road Map: Responding to the Needs of the Environmental Civil Society and Defenders”.

Environmental Human Rights Defenders Workshop at Palais Eynard, February 2020.

Organizers: University of Geneva – Gouvernance de l’environnement et du développement territorial – GEDT, City of Geneva, Earthjustice. With the support of: Geneva Environment Network, International Union for the Conservation of Nature, UN Environment Programme, UN Human Rights Special Procedures, Geneva Academy, Geneva Science-Policy Interface, The Geneva Human Rights Platform, Fondation Ernest Boninchi, University of Sussex, University of British Columbia.

Media contact: env-defender-event@unige.ch

Agenda

Opening remarks
Sandrine SALERNO, Mayor, City of Geneva
Yves FLÜCKIGER, Rector, University of Geneva
Grethel AGUILAR, Director General, IUCN
Michel FORST, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders

Dedication
Mary MANTON, University of Sussex

Environmental Human Rights Defenders
Claudelice SANTOS, Zé Claudio and Maria Foundation
Sasha SHUGAY, Fridays for Future
Winnie SENGWER, Defenders Coalition
Denise CRUZ, Centre for Democracy and Development
Selen CATALYUEKLI, Defender
Enteng BAUTISTA, Kalikasan People’s Network, Philippines

Institutional insights
Angela KARIUKI, Law Officer, UNEP
Cristina CAMBIAGHI, Senior Thematic Officer, International Land Coalition
Fran LAMBRICK, Not1More
Yves LADOR, Earthjustice

Summary

Opening remarks

Yves Flückiger, Rector, University of Geneva

Link between academic research and policy concerns
Activists and civil society are challenging decision-makers to think and act differently on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, but these peoples and organizations are challenged themselves
Science is challenged by fake news and reject in the field of public policy
We have no choice: we have to mobilize the international community to strengthen the defence of environmental defenders

Grethel Aguilar, Director General, IUCN

Human Rights are non-negotiable and human lives are non-negotiable
We need to amplify the message: people are dying for the wrong reasons
IUCN knows that indigenous communities and environmental defenders are working for all of us, without nature we would not survive on this planet
This is everybody’s job. We have some champions on the field and we need to join their voices in protecting the environment
IUCN has been discussing on and supporting the protection of environmental defenders
Motion on the protection of environmental defenders at the IUCN World Congress 2020
Geneva Road Map is going to be a success, it has a very passionate message as a background
Environmental defenders are essential in achieving the SDGs, because their rights are our rights, their planet is our planet
Call for measures to protect environmental defenders at risk
This is about people that put themselves at risk to protect natural resources that we depend on
Need to apply the rule of law in an effective form
IUCN is firm in amplifying the voice of environmental defenders

Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

Soon publishing the country report on Colombia
Meeting with government, NGOs as well as isolated and indigenous communities
People became defenders because they were targeted, through harassment campaigns, stigmatization, threats and killings
Targeted killings of defenders instead of random killings: objective is to instil fear in the whole defenders’ community
Country report on Peru: same type of encounters and same type of situations
Testimonies often mention the imbalance of power between governments, companies and defenders
Exclusion from decision-making of affected communities: lack of prior informed consent
Opposition to commodity-based growth, support for a rights-based approach, focusing on the rights of communities to healthy and sustainable environment
Corruption and impunity when crimes are committed, masterminds never prosecuted
Landmark UN resolution calling states to protect environmental defenders and prevent risks towards them
NGOs initiatives helping environmental defenders
Time for action
Geneva Road Map – contributions from different stakeholders – recommended to:
- Effective protection of defenders starts with the full recognition by all stakeholders that everyone has the right to defend human rights and the environment
- Consult and include defenders and communities in decision-making processes
- Discussion on the role of finance institutions: their activities should not contribute to the violation of human rights and environmental rights
- Development of networks supporting individuals in need of support
Empowering defenders in not only crucial for the protection of the environment and human rights, but also to make sure that our development be less conflictual and more inclusive

Dedication

Mary Manton, University of Sussex

Indigenous leader and environmental defender Yehry Rivera was killed on Monday, 24 February 2020, due to land conflicts in his home region in Costa Rica
Let’s not have a minute of silence, because sometimes silence is what is killing people, so let’s move on and act

Environmental Human Rights Defenders

Claudelice Santos, Zé Claudio and Maria Foundation

All those people who have been killed need justice and they can find justice only through our actions, which is why we need to be united in requesting justice for them
Until 2011, our struggle was local: we were fighting for infrastructure, territory and dignity
In 2011, greed for money and for resources took the lives of my brother, Zé Claudio, and of my sister-in-law, Maria.
From then onwards, our fight became much bigger
The State of Parà is one of the most violent areas of Brazil
The killings of Zé Claudio and Maria were not the first ones: many people were killed before them and many people were killed after them
It was never easy for environmental defenders in Brazil, but in recent year have been extremely cruel
The Bolsonaro government has a horrible plan to kill the people and the rainforest
Hate speech and violence against environmental defenders has become part of Brazilian politics
The world needs to take urgent action to support people at the grassroots, to think about collective effort and not in terms of individuals
When we defend our rainforest, we protect our dignity and the dignity of future generations
International Community should campaign in favour of sustainable consumption (beef, minerals, grains, …)
I have hope that the world will unite to save lives and the existence of nature
The creation of the UN showed once how the nations of the world united to stop violence, it is time to repeat that action to protect the environment

Sasha Shugay, Fridays for Future

I started to become an activist in 2019, after hearing stories from Brazil and South America
Joined Fridays for Future in native city of Novosibirsk
Russia is digging up a lot of fossils fuels and gas
Not a lot of civil space in Russia where to defend our rights
Little legal protection for civil society to protest and protect environmental rights
Minors cannot participate in protests
Police, schools and municipalities often put obstacles to protests
Police brutality also a problem for those who protest
Freedom of speech is limited: fear of criticizing the government and to rally for climate justice

Winnie Sengwer, Defenders Coalition

Sengwer is the name of the indigenous community I belong to in Southern Kenya
Sengwers are hunter-gatherers living in the forest
The forest that was our ancestral home was designated as a national monument and the community was evicted from the forest, with no plans for relocations in place
Loss of culture and of traditions, assimilation by other cultures
Violence and tensions are increasing because of land conflicts
Need for land rights and justice – community is engaged in conservation of the forest through beekeeping, hunting and gathering
Last year [2019], my community walked for 450 kilometers to have a dialogue with the Kenyan government, which has not offered dialogue options
International Community should facilitate dialogue between government and community

Denise Cruz, Centre for Democracy and Development

Mozambique is rich in natural resources, fauna and flora
Natural resources have become a curse
Recently, oil and gas reserves were discovered in the country. Foreign investments entered the country to exploit the reserves, but communities living on those lands were relocated without receiving compensation
Foreign investors come in and do as they please
The government must be held accountable in terms of the consequences of foreign investments exploitation of natural resources
The Rovuma Basin has one of the highest presence of international oil and gas exploiters, but the region is plagued by terrorism and violence
Governmental scandal recently involved an illegal debt by the government with Crédit Suisse, for which the government has not been held accountable
Environmental and human rights defenders are intimidated and killed
Recently, an activist working for free and fair elections has been murdered in Mozambique
International Community has power: discuss trade deals as well as the protection of human rights in the country
Take action! Sitting here and discussing things without being able to take meaningful action is a waste of time, energy and resources

Selen Catalyuekli, Turkish Environmental Defender

What I am going to say has changed after the speeches of the other defenders.
You have to find power in your own soul, in your own body, in your own community.
We win anyway, because we are so right. How can we make humor out of it?
Friends were trialed for creating a non-violent terrorist organization
The situation was especially harsh in 2016
It seems that nothing is working after a while at the very last moments in terms of international community pressure.
How do you find the strength to go on when you see people die or get injured for fighting for their human and environmental rights?
Slow death because of unhealthy environment is also an issue that is curtailing environmental defenders

Enteng Bautista, Kalikasan People’s Network, Philippines

My colleagues, climate activists, recently were arrested on trumped-up charges of terrorism
They were fighting for justice following Typhoon Haiyan
Brandon Lee, a Chinese-American, a climate activist in the Philippines was shot in front of his house, critically wounded and paralyzed
Glad that the Human Rights situation in the Philippines is being monitored by the Human Rights Council
Need for more engagement of the International Community in terms of monitoring the HR situation in the Philippines and elsewhere
Right for people to live in a clean, healthy and safe environment

Closing

Angela Kariuki, UNEP

UNEP realized that it needed to do more
Develop a policy on how to respond to the situation of environmental defenders:
- Speaking out – response mechanism and key messages
- Capacity-building – extend partnerships and legal work
- Policy – building, connecting and strengthening partnerships
Where our mandate runs short, we rely on partners and civil society

Cristina Cambiaghi, International Land Coalition

Some people fighting for the environment, their environment, sometimes do not know they are environmental defenders
A lot of actors, that suffer from the thigs we heard today, do not know that they are protected by the International Community

Fran Lambrick, Not1More

In dialoguing with each other, we manage to create hope, to unite
The hope you get from each other is important
My organization aims at making sure that defenders participate in these kind of negotiations

Yves Lador, Earthjustice

Trend is that repression is stronger and harder and the dissemination of repression techniques is quicker and wider
Small number of universities and researchers are looking into environmental defenders
Still blind spots, information gaps
4 types of issues:
- Attacks against environmental defenders are increasing at a time when the protection of the environment is becoming increasingly central
- Shrinking space of civil society and the defense of environmental rights
- How to bridge the action between human rights and environmental activists
- How to break the isolation of protection mechanisms and foster connectivity between activists
Geneva Road Map is an evolutive tool – developing cumulatively in a cross-sectorial manner
International civil servant accused in Iran of spying just for doing her job at the UN – need to address the issue effectively
Recognition of a right to a healthy and sustainable environment