Right Livelihood’s advocacy team delivered a statement at the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva calling for Member States to stop retaliating against environmental defenders. The statement highlighted the struggles of Right Livelihood Laureates from Cambodia, Kenya and Nicaragua, where activists leading the fight against climate change face unlawful arrests, armed attacks and police violence, among other forms of oppression, for their peaceful activities.
You can read the full statement here.
Right Livelihood Laureates from Cambodia, Nicaragua and Kenya who are leading the fight against climate change are being attacked by their governments, a concerning trend Right Livelihood says the Council has a responsibility to reverse.
Addressing the Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights in the context of climate change, Right Livelihood asked, “How can the Council better address reprisals against environmental defenders playing a key role in the fight against climate change?”
The question was critical for Right Livelihood as an organisation that has awarded 96 change-makers for their environmental activism since its inception in 1980, many of whom are persecuted for their work.
Among those Laureates is Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC), a peaceful youth movement raising awareness about environmentally disastrous development projects. Earlier this month, ten MNC members received six to eight-year prison sentences on sham charges for plotting against the government and insulting the king.
Similarly, in Kenya, Laureate Phyllis Omido and her organisation the Center for Justice Governance and Environmental Action have been targeted by the government for organising against business interests that jeopardise the environment.
In May, Omido and local community leaders came under threat when police brutalised protestors for opposing a nuclear project in a biodiverse area between the Watamu National Marine Park and the Arabuko Sokoke Forest. Police fired 137 live rounds and 70 tear gas canisters.
“Investigations into such crimes are rare, and those speaking out face severe reprisals,” we told the Council.
We finished our statement by highlighting the situation in Nicaragua, where Indigenous communities protecting their land are attacked, forcefully displaced and killed by illegal settlers involved in mining and cattle trading.