UN specialist Michel Forst has recently released a document expressing his concerns regarding the treatment of environmental protestors in the United Kingdom. This detailed letter included a condemnation of what he referred to as ‘severe crackdowns’, including the issuance of prison sentences, stringent bail conditions, and impediments to the execution of peaceful protests.
Forst is the inaugural UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention. The remit of his role is to “help protect any individual suffering from, or facing an imminent risk of suffering from punishment, persecution, or harassment for trying to exercise their rights under the Aarhus Convention”. To fulfill this role effectively, Forst visited the UK and held meetings with various Non-Governmental Organizations, climate activists, as well as with legal professionals to discuss the country’s condition vis-a-vis environmental defenders.
In the letter, Forst calls attention to the implementation of the Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This law has been used to prosecute environmental defenders where peaceful protestors have been convicted under the clause of ‘public nuisance’, attracting punishments of up to ten years in prison. The conviction of peaceful protestors under this legislation, according to Forst, has been virtually ‘nonexistent since the 1930s’ in the UK. Forst reminds us that “States carry the responsibility of facilitating the right to protest, and it can be reasonably expected that private entities and societies, in general, tolerate a certain level of disruption resulting from the exercise of this right”.
In his document, Forst also brings up the issue of ‘stringent bail conditions’ for individuals waiting on their criminal trials. Such conditions reported include the prohibition of any communication with other members from the environmental movement, mandatory use of electronic ankle tags, imposition of curfews, and GPS monitoring. Forst raises questions about the necessity and proportionality of such conditions for individuals engaging in peaceful protests.
Among the other concerns that Forst noted were the use of civil injunctions to prohibit environmental protests on public roadways, the deriding of environmental defenders in UK media and the obstruction by judges to environmental defenders trying to explain their reasons for participating in protests to juries. Amid these concerns, Forst reiterated that, “In this ongoing triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, environmental defenders are acting beneficially for all of us. It is hence critical that we ensure they receive adequate protection.”
Forst concluded his letter by assuring his focus on ‘looking more deeply into each of the problems’ and on holding discussions with the UK government about viable solutions. His goal is “to ensure that UK citizens who are seeking to protect the environment do not face persecution, penalization or harassment.”
Forst is not alone in his criticism of the treatment doled out to environmental protestors. In November 2023, Human Rights Watch reported its concerns about random arrests and harassment faced by activists protesting against an oil pipeline project in East Africa. In addition, multiple human rights experts voiced concerns about the measures adopted in Europe to silence climate activists.