Defend the Environment in collaboration with Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) organized a workshop on 19 March 2022 concerning “The Implications of the Recognition of a Right to Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment as Human Rights.”
The objective of this workshop was promoting environmental rights and by recognizing environmental interests as parts of human rights. The participants were the main actors of the judicial system, lawyers, environmental activists, and human rights activists. The venue was Azzeman Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In this workshop, the participants also consulted and discussed the areas of collaboration and partnership between DTE and LHR as well as other stakeholders for better protection of the human rights of the people to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Various experts and renowned scholars in areas of human rights and the environment forwarded insightful thoughts and observations on the legal aspects of environmental protection and human rights promotion. The workshop recognized the importance and values of strategic litigation to protect environmental interests as human rights.
In this regard, the impact and involvement of the justice institutions and actors are noted to be significant. Courts, prosecution offices, private lawyers, and legal researchers are recognized to have a big role in ensuring effective strategic litigation for environmental and human rights concerns.
