| Amicus Brief in Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera v. Mexico |
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| Written by EarthRights International | |
| Thursday, 02 February 2006 | |
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The plaintiffs Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, two environmentalist campesinos from the State of Guerrero, Mexico, were persecuted because of their environmental advocacy. Montiel and Cabrera were subjected to severe human rights violations including torture and arbitrary arrest for two and a half years. EarthRights International (ERI) assisted in preparing an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the case of Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera v. Mexico. The Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) submitted the brief on August 22, 2002 in support of Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, two environmentalist campesinos from the State of Guerrero, Mexico, who were persecuted because of their environmental advocacy. Montiel and Cabrera were subjected to severe human rights violations including torture and arbitrary arrest for two and a half years. The brief contends that those who violate environmental activists’ human rights should be held accountable for their abuses and aims to establish that the protection accorded human rights defenders under international human rights law should be extended to environmental defenders. The brief asserts that it is imperative to protect environmentalists being silenced through, threatened and actual, torture and assassination in order to strengthen environmental activism and the promotion of persons’ right to a healthy environment. The argument is that if environmental activists’ human rights go unprotected, the rights of others are implicated due to the "chilling effect" that these individual violations have on the group the activists are representing. As a result, abusing environmental defenders effects others ability to fully exercise of their own rights, generating a vicious circle of abuse. |
