Belgium
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As the climate crisis intensifies, so does the crackdown on environmental activism, finds new report
New research brief from the CIVICUS Monitor examines the crackdown of environmental activism and profiles important victories civil society has scored in the fight for climate justice.
- Environmental protests are being criminalised and met with repression on all continents
- State authorities and private companies are common perpetrators of violations to civic freedoms
- Despite the risks and restrictions, activist groups continue to score important victories to advance climate justice.
As world leaders meet in Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Negotiations (COP26), peaceful environmental activists are being threatened, silenced and criminalised around the world. The host of this year's meeting is one of many countries where activists are regularly facing rights violations.
New research from the CIVICUS Monitor looks at the common tactics and restrictions being used by governments and private companies to suppress environmental movements. The research brief “Defenders of our planet: Resilience in the face of restrictions” focuses on three worrying trends: Bans and restrictions on protests; Judicial harassment and legal persecution; and the use of violence, including targeted killings.
As the climate crisis intensifies, activists and civil society groups continue to mobilise to hold policymakers and corporate leaders to account. From Brazil to South Africa, activists are putting their lives on the line to protect lands and to halt the activities of high-polluting industries. The most severe rights abuses are often experienced by civil society groups that are standing up to the logging, mining and energy giants who are exploiting natural resources and fueling global warming.
As people take to the streets, governments have been instituting bans that criminalise environmental protests. Recently governments have used COVID-19 as a pretext to disrupt and break up demonstrations. Data from the CIVICUS Monitor indicates that the detention of protesters and the use of excessive force by authorities are becoming more prevalent.
In Cambodia in May 2021, three environmental defenders were sentenced to 18 to 20 months in prison for planning a protest against the filling of a lake in the capital. While in Finland this past June, over 100 activists were arrested for participating in a protest calling for the government to take urgent action on climate change. From authoritarian countries to mature democracies, the research also profiles those who have been put behind bars for peacefully protesting.
“Silencing activists and denying them of their fundamental civic rights is another tactic being used by leaders to evade and delay action on climate change” said Marianna Belalba Barreto, Research Lead for the CIVICUS Monitor. “Criminalising nonviolent protests has become a troubling indicator that governments are not committed to saving the planet .”
The report shows that many of the measures being deployed by governments to restrict rights are not compatible with international law. Examples of courts and legislative bodies reversing attempts to criminalise nonviolent climate protests are few and far between.
Despite the increased risks and restrictions facing environmental campaigners, the report also shows that a wide range of campaigns have scored important victories, including the closure of mines and numerous hazardous construction projects. Equally significant has been the rise of climate litigation by activist groups. Ironically, as authorities take activists to court for exercising their fundamental right to protest, activist groups have successfully filed lawsuits against governments and companies in over 25 countries for failing to act on climate change.
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BELGIUM: ‘Small extremist groups are reacting to all advances in women’s rights’
CIVICUS speaks with Céline Danhier, director of O’YES, about the recent conservative backlash to the implementation of a sex and relationships education programme in state schools in Belgium’s Walloon region. Disinformation is spreading, claiming that the programme’s aim is to hypersexualise children, and there have beenarson attacks on schools as a result.
O’YES was founded to focus on HIV/AIDS. Since 2011 it has broadened its scope to health promotion while working on the sexual health of young people aged 15 to 30, taking a peer education approach.
What is EVRAS and why has it become controversial?
Education in relational, emotional and sexual life (EVRAS for short) is an educational process aimed at increasing young people’s ability to make informed choices that will help them develop their relational, emotional and sexual life and respect themselves and others. Its aim is to guide each young person towards adulthood by using a comprehensive approach in which sexuality is understood in its broadest sense and includes relational, emotional, social, cultural, philosophical and ethical dimensions.
The relational dimension encompasses social, family, friendship, love, personal and other relationships. The affective dimension includes everything to do with feelings, emotions and self-esteem, while the sexual dimension includes the biological, psychological, affective, legal and ethical aspects of sexuality.
The EVRAS approach is based on the values of respect, equality, acceptance of differences and openness to others. It aims to provide reliable, impartial and comprehensive information to help young people develop a critical mind, ensure their rights are protected, consider the impact of their choices on their wellbeing and that of others and make decisions throughout their lives.
As with all significant advances in women’s rights, such as the pill and the voluntary termination of pregnancy, EVRAS has been the subject of controversy fuelled by small extremist groups.
The entry into force of an inter-ministerial political agreement and reference framework has reignited controversy around EVRAS despite the fact that these activities have taken place in Belgium for over 40 years.
They have been compulsory since 2012, but were made so by a decree that had no clear objectives, procedures or controls to ensure that schools complied with their obligations. For example, a poster on a restroom wall could suffice for a school to be listed as having carried out EVRAS activities. As a result, there was no equal access for all young people. The new agreement will give every young person in grade six of primary school (aged 11 to 12) and in the fourth year of secondary school (aged 15 to 16) access to a guaranteed level of information during their schooling for two hours each year.
Who opposes this, and how has O’YES got involved in the debate?
As explained in a recent article published by public broadcaster RTBF, the disinformation campaign against EVRAS is being waged by a network made up of COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, people immersed in paedo-criminal theories, children’s defence associations and ultra-conservative and far-right associations. It should be noted that it is not just religious groups that are behind the misinformation circulating about EVRAS.
Mainstream media are well informed and, for the most part, treat information objectively. But a serious problem lies with social media and the algorithms that lock in people who view this type of content and persuade them that their arguments are well founded. Social media have a huge influence on people who are undecided.
Mobilising Facebook in relation to hate speech could be an avenue worth exploring. In fact, it’s through these different channels that we’ve launched an information campaign on EVRAS: what it is, what its objectives are and what the issues at stake are regarding public health, combating violence and boosting self-esteem.
Do you see this as part of a broader conservative reaction to advances in sexual and reproductive rights?
There is indeed a conservative and ideological reaction to progress in sexual and reproductive rights. Every time there is a major advance on an issue relating to relationships and emotional and sexual life, conservative movements oppose it. This was the case when the first family planning centres opened in the 1960s.
Anti-EVRAS groups spread disinformation to frighten the public and parents in particular. They use moral panic to divide public opinion and sow doubt among a section of the public that is not aware of the news. The same dynamics have been observed around COVID-19 and vaccination.
The trend was initially viewed as regional but we soon realised it was global, or at least international at the European level. We would therefore like to work on this at a European level. At present, however, we continue working at the national level in order to pass on relevant, coherent and accurate information to people who have questions about EVRAS.
How does O’YES promote the sexual and reproductive rights of young people?
O’YES is a not-for-profit association set up in 2009 by and for young people. It is active in the field of health promotion. Its mission is to train and raise awareness of sexual health issues among young people through peer education in order to change attitudes and improve behaviour over the long term.
O’YES is active throughout the year in the living environments of young people in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Belgium’s French-speaking community – setting up a series of interactive and educational games, workshops and training courses.
With a view to improving the sexual health of young people, O’YES bases its project on several methods, at the crossroads between the youth, health, education, health promotion and prevention sectors.
Being a youth organisation means addressing a public mainly made up of people under the age of 30 and helping them develop their responsibilities and personal skills. In this way, O’YES helps them become responsible, active, critical and supportive citizens.
’Our field of action is the sexual health of young people, particularly those aged 18 to 30. Sexual health is defined by the World Health Organization as ‘a state of physical, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality. It requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence’.
Peer education is a highly effective means of prevention that has already proved its worth in other countries and in many areas, particularly sexual health. This approach allows sexual health issues to be tackled in a fun and relaxed way while achieving positive, tangible and lasting results. Young people are able to raise awareness among their peers, promote prevention and create teaching tools and innovative campaigns. It’s prevention for young people by young people, without taboos or complexes.
Civic space in Belgium is rated ‘narrowed’ by theCIVICUS Monitor.
Get in touch with O’YES through itswebsite.
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BELGIUM: ‘We need systemic transformation to stop the climate crisis’
CIVICUS speaks with Sarah Tak, General Coordinator of Klimaatzaak (‘Climate Case’), about a recent ruling by the Brussels court of appeal mandating drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in Belgium by 2030.
Klimaatzaak is a civil society group founded in 2014 by 11 concerned citizens who wanted to take action against Belgium’s inadequate climate policy.
What’s the significance of the court ruling ordering the government to take more decisive action to cut greenhouse gas emissions?
Governments have been aware of the climate crisis for decades and committed to work together to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the situation becoming truly dangerous. They have signed United Nations treaties on climate change to that end, yet unfortunately very little has been achieved. Scientists have been long telling us we must halve emissions by 2030 if we are to have a chance of limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. That is the danger threshold governments said they would strive not to cross when they signed the Paris Agreement in 2015, and they reaffirmed this commitment in 2021 at the COP26 climate summit. Yet they fail to translate these promises into domestic action and global emissions continue to rise, even to this day.
What this shows is that politicians are not able – or willing – to act on the climate crisis in the decisive way needed. Meanwhile the situation is becoming increasingly alarming, which is why judges are asked to step in, often by citizens or civil society groups who see their most fundamental rights threatened by climate change.
The verdict issued by the Brussels Court of Appeal on 30 November 2023 is truly historic because it was only the second time worldwide that judges have imposed a binding obligation on governments to reach a defined emission reduction target. The first victory was achieved by the Urgenda Foundation in the Netherlands in 2015. Our verdict found the climate policy of the Belgian federal, Brussels and Flemish regional governments to be negligent to the extent that it constitutes a breach of the human rights of all 58,586 individual co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
What was Klimaatzaak’s role in the court case?
We are a movement of concerned citizens that decided to start court actions to force governments to act on climate. Initially we were just 11 people, but we grew to a grassroots movement of 58,586 citizens. This number makes the Belgian climate case the largest worldwide, which is why it considers itself to be a lawsuit by and for citizens.
We started the legal case in 2014, by sending a formal notice to the four parts of Belgian government that have competence for climate policy – the federal government, plus those of the Flemish, Brussels-Capital and Walloon regions. After disputes about the procedural language, the proceedings on the merits of the case started in 2019.
Legally we built the case on two pillars, where we argued that the inadequate climate policy pursued by the Belgian authorities was a violation of both the tort provision of the Belgian civil code (the ‘duty of care’) and of articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Given the importance and urgency of the matter, we requested a penalty payment of €1 million (approx. US$1.07 million) for every month’s delay in executing the judgment.
When oral proceedings started in March 2021, people mobilised in more than 100 municipalities and cities across Belgium. An estimated 7,000 citizen climate advocates took to the streets dressed as lawyers to show their support. The Court of First Instance of Brussels issued its decision in June 2021, confirming that the Belgian climate policy was so substandard that it violated the legal duty of care and human rights, but it did not impose any specific reduction target.
Since it soon became clear that the competent ministers had no intention of abiding by the judgment and changing their policy course, we decided to start the appeal procedure in order to complement the first instance verdict with binding reduction targets. And this time everything went much faster because the Brussels Court of Appeal decided to prioritise our case. Submissions from the federal and regional governments were received and we then filed ours throughout 2022 and 2023. Four intense weeks of oral pleadings took place in September and October 2023, and the historic verdict was out before the end of November.
It was the backing of our countless supporters that helped sustain our work for so long. They kept us upright financially and morally. If anything, this was a victory of civil society and the public.
Do you expect this ruling to set a precedent for others to follow?
Our case is part of a wider trend and sets an important legal precedent that is already today being used in other jurisdictions to try to impose similar climate targets. Steep national emission reduction targets are urgently needed for climate policies to have a chance of being effective.
We are now seeing a lot of civil society groups, individual citizens and even government authorities turning to courts to push for climate action. There are more than 2,000 climate cases worldwide, initiated by a wide array of claimants. In the USA, the state of California is suing major oil corporations over claims they misled the public for decades and seeking the creation of a special fund to pay for recovery. Organisations such as Milieudefensie in the Netherlands already won a pioneering climate case against the oil major Shell and recently initiated a new climate case against IGN Bank.
To stop the climate crisis, we need systemic transformation: we need governments, carbon majors and banking and insurance companies to drastically change course. In the coming years we can surely expect a lot more litigation against not only governments but also other powerful actors. We simply need to hold them accountable if we want to see the transition that is needed before 2030.
Our case is already being consulted and referenced by civil society in other countries. We were contacted by several groups seeking similar rulings in their countries who were trying to understand the reasoning of the judges and use their arguments in their own proceedings.
What are the next steps in your advocacy work?
Elections will take place in Belgium in June 2024, so we are working to keep the verdict alive in public debate. After the election we will continue to monitor compliance with the ruling. The judges set up a follow-up mechanism so we can go back to them in 2025 if climate policy continues to be unsatisfactory. The judges will then decide on penalty payments if need be. A good mix of advocacy and legal work awaits us in the coming months and years.
Civic space in Belgium is rated ‘narrowed’ by theCIVICUS Monitor.
Get in touch with Klimaatzaak through itswebsite orFacebook page, and follow @Klimaatzaak onTwitter andInstagram.