“Right to protest in the face of danger”: UN expert Michel Forst defends climate chaos

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Amid growing hostility towards environmental activists in Europe, a UN expert sees the fundamental right to protest “at risk”. Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur on environmental activists, said in an interview with the AFP news agency that he was deeply concerned by the harsher tone towards climate activists in countries such as Germany, Austria, France and Britain, which would normally be seen as beacons. of democracy.

Forst criticized government members for using terms such as “eco-terrorists” or “green Taliban” to describe peaceful activists. Some media reports have contributed to an intensification of public hostility. This gave him “chills,” Forst said. The independent expert was appointed special rapporteur by the parties to the Aarhus Convention to advocate for the protection of environmental activists.

UN expert criticizes ‘toxic discourse’

“The right to protest in Europe is currently in danger,” said Frenchman Forst. He recently visited several European countries after activists complained about treatment that violated the convention and international human rights.

After a visit to Britain, Forst publicly raised the alarm about the “toxic discourse” and an “increasingly tougher crackdown” on environmentalists.

In Britain, “regressive laws” are being used to punish climate activists with harsh sentences, he complained. An activist was sentenced to six months in prison for a slow, 30-minute protest march that disrupted road traffic. Another activist was sentenced to 27 months in prison in Britain. There are also strict penalties for climate activists in other countries, including Germany, Forst denounces.

Climate crisis as trigger for the protests

Last month he traveled to France. There, activists seeking to prevent the felling of trees for the construction of a highway near the southwestern French city of Toulouse accused security forces of denying them food, drinking water and even sleep through the use of floodlights. “Withholding food, drinking water and sleep clearly contradicts international law,” Forst said.

European media reports often focused on what was happening around the demonstrations and not on the climate crisis, which sparked these protests, he criticized. The world is in a ‘dangerous time’, but the general public often does not understand why young people are ‘blocking access to airports or gluing their hands to the ground’. (AFP)

Source: Blick