Category: Obligation to Protect Rights of Expression and Association
States have obligations not only to refrain from violating the rights of free expression and association directly, but also to protect the life, liberty and security of individuals exercising those rights, including when they are exercising their rights in connection with environmental concerns. Individuals who try to protect their rights in a healthy environment are often at risk of harassment, abuse and even death. In 2014, Global Witness reported that between the beginning of 2002 and the end of 2013, 908 people in 35 countries were killed because of their work defending environmental and land rights. Good practices in this area include steps taken by international organizations to clarify the rights of environmental defenders, and efforts by civil society organizations to better protect them.
- Protection Manuals For Human Rights Defenders
- Women’s Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRDIC)
- Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)
- Protection of Environmental Human Rights Defenders
- Human Rights Defenders Urgent Assistance Programme
- Front Line Defenders Identification Cards for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- The Goldman Environmental Prize for Grassroots Environmentalists
- Measures of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to Protect Environmental Human Rights Defenders