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WORLD GOVERNMENTS ARE USING ‘INCREASINGLY HARSH’ LAWS AGAINST
CLIMATE PROTESTERS  
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Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
September 11, 2024
EcoWatch
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_ Rather than safeguarding basic rights of freedom of expression,
assembly and association, many countries are looking to outdated
legislation or enacting new laws restricting peaceful protest and
imposing disproportionate punishments. _

Climate activists attend a rally at Violet Coco's bail hearing at the
Downing Centre Courts in Sydney, Australia on Dec. 13, 2022, (Lisa
Maree Williams / Getty Images)

 

Democratic governments have been using “increasingly harsh, overly
broad, and vague” laws against climate activists
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according to a new report
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rights
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Climate Rights International (CRI).

Countries are imposing long prison sentences, bringing criminal
charges against climate activists
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trivial offenses and engaging in preventative detention, a press
release from CRI said.

“You don’t have to agree with the tactics of climate activists to
understand the importance of defending their rights to protest and to
free speech,” said Brad Adams, CRI’s executive director, in the
press release. “Instead of jailing climate protesters and
undermining civil liberties, governments should heed their call to
take urgent action to address the climate crisis
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The report, _On Thin Ice: Disproportionate Responses to Climate
Change Protesters in Democratic Countries_, documents the increasingly
authoritarian treatment of climate protesters in Germany, France, the
Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, the United States and the United
Kingdom.

By bearing down on climate activists, countries are violating their
duties to protect the basic rights of freedom of assembly, expression
and association, the report said.

The report pointed out that the protests are fueled by frustration
with the inaction of governments in the face of increasing climate
crisis impacts. Concerned citizens are exercising their basic rights
to peaceful protest and civil disobedience, just as they did in the
civil rights, anti-apartheid, anti-colonial and centerpiece of the
suffragette movements.

“The fact is that climate activism is not something you’re born
into, but it’s something you stand up to do no matter where you are
in your life. And I would say from all the years of activism and for
all the thousands of people I’ve spoken with, the one really most
powerful answer to desperation is action,” Luisa Neubauer, a climate
activist, told CRI.

_Climate activist Luisa Neubauer speaks to activists protesting
against an LNG terminal being built in Germany, on April 30, 2023.
Fridays4Future._

Governments are required by international law to protect and respect
the basic rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association,
but, rather than safeguarding them, many countries are looking to
outdated legislation or enacting new laws restricting peaceful protest
and imposing disproportionate punishments.

A recent example is the unprecedented prison sentences given to five
protesters in the United Kingdom for “conspiring to cause a public
nuisance” on a major roadway in London.

“We’ve been protesting in the streets for 50 years now. We’ve
been signing petitions for 50 years now. And our emissions
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still rising. So, the time of nicely asking is just over,” Sieger
Sloot, a Dutch climate protester, said in the report.

Another case in Australia involved charges being brought against
Deanna “Violet” Coco under a law in New South Wales that permitted
a prison sentence of as much as two years for anyone entering or
remaining on a tunnel or bridge if it causes any portion of the
structure to be closed or pedestrians or vehicles to be redirected.

In the U.S., felony charges carrying a sentence of as long as five
years in prison with a fine of up to $250,000 were brought against
Joanna Smith and Timothy Martin for smearing a protective case housing
a statue in Washington, DC’s National Gallery with water-soluble
paint.

_Timothy Martin and Joanna Smith at the National Gallery in
Washington, DC on April 27, 2023. Cece Russell-Jayne_

“I interrupted what I love, which is art and culture and all the
things we go to museums to celebrate, I interrupted that ever so
briefly and delicately to try to help protect it. And to try to help
save what we are all about to lose, which is everything that we love
if we don’t address the climate crisis,” Smith told CRI about the
motivation behind her National Gallery action.

CRI called on countries’ governments to adopt protective measures in
support of safe and responsible demonstrations, to protect the
fundamental right to peaceful protest, to repeal or amend laws
targeting peaceful protesters, to allow evidence in court of climate
change
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behind actions and to adopt legislation that creates a public interest
defense in legal proceedings that involve climate protesters.

“July 2024 was the 14th month in a row to become the hottest
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on record. Governments should reflect on the absurdity that each new
month also seems to include record breaking sentences for climate
protesters,” Adams said in the press release. “Governments should
see climate protesters and activists as allies in the fight against
climate change, not criminals. The crackdown on peaceful protests is
not only a violation of their basic rights, it can also be used by
repressive governments as a green light to go after climate,
environmental, and human rights defenders in their countries.”

_Cristen Hemingway Jaynes is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She
holds a JD and an Ocean & Coastal Law Certificate from University of
Oregon School of Law and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck,
University of London. She is the author of the short story collection
The Smallest of Entryways, as well as the travel biography, Ernest’s
Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway’s Life._

_EcoWatch is a long-time leader in environmental news. Founded in 2005
as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, today we are a digital
platform still dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content
on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. While we’ve grown
from a grassroots newspaper of 80,000 print copies to a site with a
digital audience of more than two million monthly readers, we are
still committed to our founding principle: creating a sustainable
future._

* Climate Activists
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* Climate Change
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* Civil Disobedience
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* Civil Liberties
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* state repression
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