Events in February felt like a legal double whammy for the environment and its defenders. First, the United Nations Environment Assembly declined a Bolivian proposal to grant rights to nature and Mother Earth. Then, Michel Forst, the U.N. special rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention, raised the alarm with his new paper: “State Repression of Environmental Protest and Civil Disobedience: A Major Threat to Human Rights and Democracy.” Although the right to protest is safeguarded by universal human rights like freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, Forst signals a worrisome rise in police brutality in dealing with environmental defenders. Meanwhile, courts tend to hand them heftier fines and heavier sentences. In Italy, the anti-mafia law was dusted off to deal with activists, while Britain introduced draconic new laws, which allowed one man to be sentenced to six months in prison for slow walking on a public road. The Aarhus Convention guarantees environmental defenders the right to access information, partake in decision-making, including the right to protest, and a fair trial. The treaty was ratified by the European Union and all its member states, as well as Britain. Other member states are mainly found in Central Asia. Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the Escazú Agreement instead, which, like the Aarhus Convention, guarantees environmental defenders access to information, participation in decision-making and justice when it comes to environmental issues. “In terms of freedom of speech and the right to protest, certainly in regards to…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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