"Dangerous Work Increasing Pressure on Environmental NGO's and Activists in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union and the U.S.", Nov 2017

This report is devoted to environmentalists who have been or continue to be persecuted in the countries of the former Soviet Union and in the U.S. for their work to protect everyone’s right to a healthy environment... This report documents... cases of persecution that have targeted environmental human rights defenders in the past fifteen years since the... Aarhus Convention... The fulfillment of the principles of the Rio de Janeiro declaration and the Aarhus Convention attest to the key role of environmental civil society organizations and activists in the protection of the environment and the achievement of sustainable development... Independent environmental organizations and activists are viewed as the final barrier against further destruction of natural ecosystems, the realization of destructive projects, and the furtherance of unsustainable models of production and consumption... [I]t is time for the international community to pay attention to not only improving access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making, and access to legal recourse, but also enabling civil society and individual citizens to fearlessly enjoy their environmental rights.