Date and time: Saturday 4 May 2024, 10:00am to 11:00am, Santiago time.

Format: Hybrid: Room 2 (Sala 2A) and online.

Language of the session: English.

Objective: The objective of this panel is to highlight the increasing use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) to silent the freedom of expression of those reporting on the current environmental crisis, including journalists, media workers, human rights defenders, and environmental activists. Based on a study it commissioned to the Aberdeen University, OHCHR will explore, jointly with the Committee to Protect Journalists and other partners, means and actions that can be taken to address that increasing trend.

Description: Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) masquerade as ordinary civil and criminal lawsuits but are characterized by abusive tactics that are used to increase the psychological and financial cost of defending an action and pressure the defender into settling the case, retracting information, or to cease reporting entirely on important public interest matters. Those tactics include disproportionate, excessive, or unreasonable claims, targeting individuals, filing multiple proceedings, delaying proceedings, and forum shopping. They are increasingly used by state actors, but also more and more by business actors, against those reporting on the current environmental crisis, including journalists, media workers, human rights defenders, and environmental activists. Based on a study that OHCHR commissioned to the Aberdeen University, the side event will give an overview of that concerning trend and examine factors that favor it, including legal frameworks criminalizing defamation. It will also explore means and actions that can be used to tackle that trend, including anti-SLAPPs laws or the use by courts of abuse of process provisions, without jeopardizing the right to access to justice.