Based on those experiences, the following strategies are recommended:
- Get a local lawyer to represent the environmental defender or defender's family in pressing the government to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the human rights violations. Local human rights NGOs often have lawyers on staff who assist in cases of this type, as do national human rights commissions. While many environmental defenders cannot afford to hire a lawyer, these services are often available on a reduced rate or even for free. Funding is sometimes available from groups such as Front Line. EDLC can sometimes assist in identifying sources of funding.
- Request international legal help to assist the local lawyer in pressing the government to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the human rights violations. EDLC specializes in finding pro bono (free) American and European legal help through its Law firm pro bono program.
- Learn about and consider pursuing human rights laws and remedies that may allow a challenge to the government's failure to bring charges against those responsible for violating the human rights of the environmental defender.
- Get help from human rights bodies within the country. Many of these governmental bodies are prepared to take an active advocacy role in these cases, even against another branch of the government.
- Seek help from local, national, and international non-governmental organizations that work on these issues. Many of these organizations issue appeals to people around the world to send letters and emails or make phone calls to government officials urging investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the human rights violations. Consider contacting Amnesty International to request an Appeal for Action or Urgent Action. Global Response is a U.S.-based organization whose work focuses on the environment and includes campaigns and emergency actions to mobilize its members on behalf of endangered environmental defenders.
- Consider getting press coverage at the local, national, and international levels. Governments count on cases of this type being "below the radar," and fear that they will draw unwelcome public attention, especially at the international level. Increasing the level of attention paid to the case may not only attract additional resources, but may also put pressure on the government to pursue the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the human rights violations.
- Use political and diplomatic contacts, whether inside or outside the country, as a means of applying pressure on the government to investigate and prosecute those responsible. International legal help can be especially useful in this regard.
- Try to learn about similar cases, whether inside the country or elsewhere, and contact those other environmental defenders, their families, and their lawyers to learn from their experiences in pursuing similar objectives.
- Internationalize the case, using some or all of the above strategies, to show how internationally-protected human rights are being violated by the government's failure to investigate and prosecute, and how the case must be looked at as part of the global problem of the persecution of environmental defenders and the problem of impunity for human rights violations generally.
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