Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

The LUSA news agency reported on 3 october that “the UN Special Rapporteur on environmental campaigners, Michel Forst” , said that climate activists are under increasing pressure in Europe, admitting that he was surprised by the violence with which several governments treat them. This is a somewhat misleading title as Michel Forst is the “Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention, Mr. Michel Forst” [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2022/07/22/aarhus-convention-on-environmental-information-gets-especially-experienced-rapporteur/]

Still, the message is what matters: “Rights defenders as a whole face a number of major challenges and risks in many countries, including in Europe, but those who are currently paying the highest price are precisely environmental activists and people trying to defend their land and the climate,” said Michel Frost in an interview with Lusa.

Forst was in Portugal today to take part in the international conference of the Human Rights Platform, taking place at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, and confessed to Lusa that he didn’t understand the reasons behind this increase in pressure.

“I don’t understand why, but the fact is that more and more politicians in more countries are comparing people who are actually peaceful demonstrators with violent terrorists,” he said, noting that he sees this “in Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK, Germany and Switzerland”.

The issue worries him a lot, he recognized, not least because different ways of attacking activists are being used in various countries.

“I toured more than 20 European Union (EU) countries to meet with activists and governments, inviting them to describe the atmosphere they face in their countries, and I can assure you that the situation is becoming very, very, very tense,” he said, pointing out that governments such as those in France or Austria classify these activists as “eco-terrorists or green Taliban”.

Michel Forst explained to Lusa that he is currently working with a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “to try to better understand what is happening in Europe, with a view to guiding EU governments on how to respond to civil disobedience”.

Stressing that civil disobedience is regulated by international human rights law, the UN official said he was alarmed when he met judges from Spain, France and Germany and realized that they “didn’t understand international human rights law at all”.

Activists who engage in civil disobedience “should not be penalized”, but in reality we see that “judges and governments do not comply with international obligations”, Michel Forst pointed out.

For this reason, he explained, his aim for now is to provide documents and guidelines for states to ensure better fulfilment of their international obligations.

“Some states have been very receptive, such as Ireland and Norway, but many others have not,” he denounced, naming the example of the United Kingdom and adding that, in some cases, the police infiltrate groups in order to know what is being prepared and to be able to better control the activists.

“We now have evidence that some [environmental campaigners] have been placed under strict surveillance, with their phones being hacked and their computers being tapped,” he said.

For Michel Forst, environmental campaigners are no different from those who fight for human rights.

“It’s the same thing,” he emphasised, explaining that environmental activists are just gaining more visibility.

“They are using new forms of mobilisation that others haven’t used, like sticking their hands in the ground or handcuffing themselves to a barrier or breaking down doors to cut genetically modified maize,” he listed.

Their growing visibility leads them to face what human rights defenders were already facing, namely the fact that “civic space is shrinking in Europe,” he said, noting that this is not only his assessment, but also that of the Council of Europe and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.

And against this, Michel Forst expects only one thing: “A strong reaction from citizens”.

With regard to the authorities, the UN Special Rapporteur also expressed his expectations.

“We need to see the results [of the guidelines that will be issued] and then ask the most receptive.

Portugal: Climate activists under increasing pressure in Europe – UN rapporteur