Course overview
This course will expose you to the crisis of Environmental Defenders. It has been estimated that about 1600 environmental defenders have been killed since 2002, while many others and their families are subject of threats and violent attacks, enforced disappearances, illegal surveillance, travel bans, blackmail, judicial harassment, etc.
This course will introduce you to their stories, the reasons behind such violence, the obligations of States to protect them and the work that the UN is undertaken to denounce and stop theses human rights violations
Learning Objectives
- Define environmental defenders, and explain their situation;
- Tell the stories of some victims;
- List the obligations of States to protect under international law;
- Recall the work of the Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs and UN Environment.