Legal Protection on Environmental Cases (ID0137)

Brief Description of the Commitment

This commitment encourages the creation of a study of legal certainty for environmental defenders, especially for environmental defenders who take non-legal methods that have not been the subject of law in Article 66 of Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UU PPLH), it is necessary to regulate the direction of the policy as an optimization of legal protection arrangements in environmental cases

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? Environmental Defenders are individuals or groups of individuals who voluntarily or professionally work to protect the environment, land, and other natural resources from damage of mining, plantation expansion, reclamation, and forest concessions (Auriga, 2021). As a form of protection, promotion, enforcement, and fulfillment of human rights, it is also necessary to protect environmental defenders. Under current conditions, Article 66 of the UU PPLH states that these environmental defenders can’t be criminally prosecuted or sued civilly if they pursue legal means. On the contrary, the protection of those who do not pursue legal means has not been accommodated. Therefore, efforts are needed to review and formulate recommendations on the certainty of legal protection for environmental defenders that target the police as the main gateway for environmental cases. Environmental cases are indeed an essential problem and from 2014 to July 2022 there were 102 cases of threats to environmental defenders (environmental defenders, 2022).

2. What are the causes of the problem? There are problems in the environmental law regime in the protection of environmental defenders where the cause of repressive actions against environmental defenders still occurs due to the weak legal instruments that exist, especially in regulations related to protection to environmental defenders. The PPLH Law is not enough to be an instrument to ensure the security and safety of environmental defenders. This is because the existing provisions of the article have weaknesses that in the explanation of the article only focus on efforts to protect victims and/or whistleblowers who take legal means due to pollution and/or destruction of the environment and are intended as an effort to prevent retaliatory actions from the reported party in the form of punishment and/or civil lawsuits. This legal method is not officially interpreted by the UU PPLH but the direction of its reach can be interpreted as an attempt at litigation that includes both civil and criminal. Such a regulatory framework provides implications that environmental defenders who pursue non-legal means/efforts, such as extra-legal efforts, policy criticism, demonstrations, and other forms are not the subject of the environmental defender protection law in Article 66 of the UU PPLH.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? Until now, there is no regulation that regulates the operationalization and direction of the reach of Article 66 of the UU PPLH n the criminal and civil procedure system, but the Supreme Court through Supreme Court Decision No. 36 / KMA / SK / II / 2013 concerning the Implementation of Guidelines for Handling Environmental Cases provides a position for judges to examine and adjudicate environmental cases progressively, substantive, and humanist In addition, in 2022, attorney general's guidelines No. 8 of 2022 concerning handling criminal cases in the field of environmental protection and management were issued.

2. What solution are you proposing? Preparation of a review of recommendations for the certainty of legal protection for environmental defenders together with the Komnas-HAM and the Indonesian Police. The designation of the recommendation study is aimed at the Police as a form of increasing legal protection for everyone who makes efforts (both legal and non-legal) in maintaining and maintaining a clean and healthy living environment, considering that the Indonesian Police is the gateway to the entry of its main cases in criminal cases.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? Through efforts to prepare a review of recommendations regarding the certainty of legal protection for environmental defenders, the final result of which is handed over to the Indonesian Police, it is hoped that this will become one of the foundations in the preparation of instruments in the legal protection of environmental defenders in particular and the handling of environmental cases in general.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency? This commitment will also encourage transparency of interested parties, including the government, in providing and managing all information related to plantation, forestry, mining and other exploitation activities to affected communities, so as to minimize rejection and conflict.

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability? This commitment encourages both policy makers and law enforcement to prioritize the value of accountability in the implementation of legal protection for the environment

3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions? The Certainty of Legal Protection for Environmental Defenders aims to ensure community involvement without the need for fear to maintain a healthy and good living environment that provides justice between generations.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

Drafting of Study Recommend ations regarding Certainty of Legal Protection for Environment al Defenders | The preparation of a review of recommendati ons to the Indonesian National Police regarding the certainty of legal protection for environmental defenders | December 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 3. Legal protection on environmental cases

• Verifiable: Yes
• Does it have an open government lens? Yes
• Potential for results: Modest