Abstract
On October 12, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University conferred the joint Elisabeth Haub Awards for Environmental Law and Diplomacy, in memoriam, upon all environmental defenders who have lost their lives defending their land and the environment from destructive industries. According to Global Witness, the highest number of killings of environmental defenders on record occurred in 2019. 1 The award ceremony was preceded by a panel discussion featuring environmental advocates from Colombia and the Philippines (two countries which together account for half of such deaths that were recorded in that year) and from the US, where environmental activism is increasingly being criminalised.
Attorney Robert Chan, Executive Director of the Palawan NGO Network Inc. (PNNI) in the Philippines, kicked off the discussion and spoke about the issue of enforcement of environmental laws in the Philippines. Despite having many laws to protect the environment, the government’s enforcement of these laws is often inadequate and consequently, the country’s natural resources have been overexploited. Acting as para-enforcers and using the citizen’s arrest law, PNNI confiscates items that are being used for such exploitation, including items like chainsaws, illegal fishing boats and mining equipment. PNNI has confiscated so much property that it has created the Palawan Environmental Enforcement Museum. Several environmental defenders working with PNNI have been killed because of their activism. Attorney Chan spoke of his fallen colleagues with great sadness, commenting that these defenders were ordinary people doing extraordinary work to protect the environment.
The next speaker, Carlos Alfonso Negret, spoke of his experience as Ombudsman of the Republic of Colombia – a position he held during the constitutional period of 1 September 2016– 31 August 2020. As Ombudsman, Negret investigated the killings of dozens of environmental defenders in Colombia. He noted that these killings highlighted a paradox that has been emerging in environmental protection: As protection of the environment has been increasing globally through international and national laws, there has also been an increase in crimes against environmental defenders. In order to sustainably preserve the environment, he noted that greater State action was needed to both eliminate illegal activities and protect environmental defenders.
The next presentation was by Krystal Two Bulls, an Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne organiser from Lame Deer, Montana, who led the global solidarity movement calling for banks and financial institutions to divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock in 2016. She shared her own experiences in resisting the project, including being named later in an unsuccessful lawsuit by Energy Transfer Partners – the owner of the pipeline – under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. She spoke of the immense physical and mental toll that such spurious lawsuits can take on activists while crediting the support of pro bono lawyers to get her through the experience. Two Bulls also announced the launch of NDN Collective’s LANDBACK Campaign, for which she serves as director. The LANDBACK Campaign – which calls for the return of Indigenous Peoples lands into Indigenous Peoples hands – signals the next frontier for Indigenous rights protection, as not even the landmark United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples calls for a return of Indigenous lands.
The panel concluded with Julie Anne Miranda-Brobeck, Head of U.S. Communications and Global Partnerships for Global Witness. Miranda-Brobeck spoke about Chut Wutty, an environmental defender from Cambodia whose 2012 murder at the hands of the military police inspired Global Witness to begin tracking and recording the killings of environmental defenders around the world. Miranda-Brobeck then shared the key findings of the 2020 Global Witness Report, “Defending Tomorrow”, 2 which found that mining, agribusiness and logging industries were the deadliest sectors for environmental defenders, and underscored the complicity and/or involvement of governments, companies and criminal gangs in the killings. She also drew attention to the fact that some States are now using the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen oppressive anti-protest laws and weaken environmental regulations.
The panel discussion was followed by an award ceremony wherein panellists lit candles in memoriam for the deceased as the names of the 212 environmental defenders who had been killed in 2019 scrolled in silence on the screen. Reflecting on each of the panellist’s talks, their experiences and contributions to the protection of our planet, one could not help but feel grateful for their dedication to their work, and outraged by the attacks on them. The event concluded with a resounding call to protect environmental defenders and to hold responsible parties accountable for the violence and environmental destruction they cause.
We must defend the defenders.
