The Silencing of the Peaceful Protestor: Is It Legitimate to Criminalise Environmental Defenders?

Abstract

Environmental defenders remain highly vulnerable and under attack across the globe. This paper seeks to answer the question of whether it is legitimate to criminalise environmental defenders, and focuses predominantly on case studies arising from the Philippines and the United Kingdom. This paper is divided into five parts, and addresses (i) the act of protesting, (ii) debates surrounding the policing of protests, (iii) a consideration of the criminalisation of environmental defenders in the Philippines and (iv) the UK respectively, and (v) an inspection of what environmental protests, and the realities of its participants, might look like in the future. The paper ultimately concludes that criminalising environmental defenders isillegitimate and unacceptable, especially if their actions are deemed to be peaceful.