On November 23, there was held an online meeting of all stakeholders with the newly elected Special Rapporteur of the Aarhus Convention on Environmental Defenders, where he presented his mandate and talked about his future activities. After his election, Mr. Michel Forst thanked the Parties for their trust and stated that he will do his best to fulfill all the duties assigned to him within the framework of his mandate. He noted that he will be an independent Special Rapporteur, independent of countries and non-governmental organizations, will be demanding of himself and others, will demonstrate the usefulness of the new mechanism. Mr. Forst was unanimously approved as the first Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders in June 2022 at the extraordinary meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention. The approval of the mechanism of Rapid Response to persecution of eco-activists was performed through a decision of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in October 2021 for the Parties to be able to react to violations of requirements of Art. 3(8) of the Convention.
The mechanism of the Special Rapporteur should be a mechanism of rapid response to facts of persecution of environmental activists in the countries that are Parties to the Aarhus Convention. This is the first international mechanism to specifically protect environmental defenders, and it marks an important step in advancing environmental democracy, helping activists defend the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The role of the Special Rapporteur is to take measures to protect any person who is exposed to an immediate threat of penalisation, persecution or harassment for attempting to exercise his/her rights under the Aarhus Convention.
The Special Rapporteur noted that eco-activists are important for preservation of the environment, but are under threat in many countries of the world. Parties to the Aarhus Convention, non-governmental organizations reported numerous cases when environmental defenders were subjected to persecution, large fines, dismissal from work, threats, intimidation, violence, detention and even killings. Therefore, it is extremely important for them to be able to exercise their rights guaranteed by the Convention without fear. The report of the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Ms. Mary Lawlor, found that every second human rights defender who was killed in 2019 worked with the public on land issues, the impact of business activities on the environment. Since January 2017, there have been reported cases of persecution, penalization and harassment of ecoactivists in 16 countries that are Parties to the Aarhus Convention. For example, in 2020, two defenders in France were repressed by the authorities after speaking out against an oil project, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019, peaceful protesters faced excessive police force and allegations of wrongdoing, and were denied proper medical care. This not only violated their rights under the Aarhus Convention and threatened their safety, but it is also likely that this deterred others from exercising their environmental rights. A report by a representative of civil society in Ukraine states that “in total, at least 55 activists have been attacked since the beginning of 2017 and more than 40 in the last 12 months.” Even more disturbing is the fact that in 2019, two foresters were killed for trying to stop illegal logging in Romania. Global Witness recorded that 1,539 environmental defenders were killed between 2012 and 2020 worldwide (https://unece.org/media/environment/Aarhus-Convention/press/361413).
Given that time is important when it comes to safety of defenders, the Special Rapporteur, whose work will be supported by the Aarhus Convention Secretariat, has a variety of tools to quickly and effectively address complaints and protect environmental activists, including the adoption of immediate, permanent protection measures, use of diplomatic channels, public statements or submission of the case for review to other relevant human rights bodies, as well as to interested governments and heads of state. Measures will be tailored to each situation and may include several actions that the interested party must take to ensure that defenders are not subject to further persecution, penalisation and harassment. Special Rapporteur will also play an active role in raising awareness regarding defenders’ rights according to the Aarhus Convention and will cooperate with other human rights organizations.
In general, any representative of the public, Parties to the Aarhus Convention or the Secretariat may submit a complaint to the Special Rapporteur. A complaint may even be filed before domestic legal remedies have been exhausted. The Special Rapporteur noted that he will use effective tools for quick and effective consideration of complaints, which will be published on the website within 60 days.
Complaints are to be sent to the Special Rapporteur at: envdefenders@un.org, the applicant may be any representative of the public who is persecuted and who may apply directly, or another person may apply on his/her behalf. The Special Rapporteur will consider any complaint unless he determines that it:
is anonymous, although, if it contains valid statements it may be considered;
is an abuse of the right to file such a complaint;
is clearly ungrounded.
A more global task of the Rapporteur is to ensure:
support for introducing into the national legislation of countries laws that contribute to protection of eco-activists;
priority of protecting public rights, freedoms, and interests of ecologists, ecoactivists, and journalists;
fight against illegal lawsuits against journalists, ecoactivists, ecologists;
quick investigation of environmental crimes, which will ensure protection of ecoactivists from repression and illegal actions.
The public has high hopes for the work of Mr. Michel Forst, the establishment of a Rapid Response mechanism is a unique and promising step. Launch of the work of the Special Rapporteur marks an important step in advancing practical measures to uphold the universal right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
