Combating Impunity
The problem of impunity
Environmental defenders are frequently the victims of human rights violations, but unfortunately the problem does not even end there. As is the case with many types of human rights violations, the failure of governments to punish the perpetrators has additional consequences. This is the problem of impunity, which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has condemned because it " fosters chronic repetition of human rights violations, and total defenselessness of victims and their relatives."
The problem of impunity is especially challenging because it is so entrenched in many legal systems. EDLC believes that one key strategy in tackling impunity is to break its grip in cases that achieve international attention. By obtaining convictions in these cases, the international community sends a clear message to perpetrators to not assume that their actions will go unpunished.
Convictions can also empower other victims to press forward in their efforts to have governments investigate and prosecute human rights violations. This in turn increases the chances that governments and prosecutors will respond positively to that pressure.
Nine strategies to combat impunity
EDLC and the law firms with which it works have experience with the problem of impunity in four high-profile cases in four different countries, all involving the murder of environmental defenders. The cases are those of defender of the Amazon Sister Dorothy Stang in Brazil; anti- illegal logging activists Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Cartagena in Honduras and Aldo Zamora in Mexico; and anti-illegal fishing government official Elpidio "Jojo" de la Victoria in the Philippines.
The State that leaves human rights violations unpunished violates its duty to ensure free and full exercise of the rights of the people within its jurisdiction.
- The Inter-American Court of Human Rights