Defending the environment is a risky business. Join our discussion of the crucial role that human rights defenders play in protecting our planet, the risks posed by COVID-19, and pro bono initiatives taken by the international legal community to help them.
Chair
Richard Dyton, pro bono partner at Simmons & Simmons and trustee of the Legal Response Initiative and the Lawyers Against Poverty Network (TBC)
Speakers
Victoria Channing, pro bono manager at Simmons & Simmons (TBC)
Kate Cook, Environmental Law Expert and Matrix Chambers barrister (TBC)
Donald Hernandez, Human rights lawyer at the Honduran Centre for Community Promotion and Development (TBC)
24/06/2020 at 17:00 (GMT+1)
Land and environmental rights defenders are the single most persecuted group of human rights defenders. In 2019, 40% of all human rights defenders killed were working in this field.
The outbreak has only posed more problems for ethnic minority and peasant communities fighting for access to land and territory. Where previously human rights defenders have tentatively relied on the rule of law to represent the claims of communities to land, increasingly regressive legislation is making this more and more difficult. Join our discussion to find out what the legal community can do to prevent this, and the way forward for protecting environmental rights in times of crisis.
Our star panel will feature Kate Cook on the role and responsibilities of lawyers advising corporations and the importance of the UN Guiding principles on Business and Human Rights, and lawyer and environmental defender Donald Hernandez about his experience of protecting the rights of indigenous and peasant communities from corporate abuse in Honduras.
We will also be speaking to Simmons & Simmons lawyers Richard Dyton and Victoria Channing about best practice for pro bono work, with a focus on the toolbox developed in partnership with PBI UK to equip human rights defenders with the knowledge and understanding needed to confront adverse corporate practices.
