Demand A Just Earth! Human Rights and the Environment

[Guest guest]

Recently, Amnesty International and the Sierra Club hosted " Demand A

Just Earth! Human Rights and the Environment, " in Congressman 's

district. I invited Rep. , who was unable to attend, but he did

provide the following statement...

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Rep. H.

DEMAND A JUST EARTH! HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The College of New Jersey, December 6, 2000

As an alumnus of The College of New Jersey, as well as a committed

human rights advocate, I am very pleased that Amnesty International

and the Sierra Club have sought to highlight the link between human

rights and environmental advocacy.

Because Congress is in session this week to finalize the fiscal year

2001 budget, I regret that I am unable to be here with you today.

As you may know, I have the honor and privilege to serve in Congress

as the Chairman of two important human rights committees: the

International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee, and the

Commission on Security and ation in Europe (also known as the

Helsinki Commission).

In both of these committees, I have been very active to promote human

rights and environmental reforms. My State Department Authorization

bill (HR 3427), which became law (Public Law 106-113) provided

increased budget authorizations of approximately $100 million (over

the next two years) for important international environmental

activities carried out by international commissions that are working

toward improving air and water quality and marine conservation. Among

the groups funded by my new law are the International Boundary and

Water Commission (U.S. and Mexico), the International Joint

Commission, the International Fisheries Commission, the Commission for

the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the

North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES), and the

Inter-American Sea Turtle Convention Commission (IASTC).

Although environmental activism is often in the press here at home -

as it should be - few realize that the very first stirrings of

democratic activism in repressed societies is often in the area of

environmentalism. Genuine democracy is built on vibrant, grassroots

civic organizations where individuals can gather to discuss issues in

a forum free of the government's direct control.

This was clearly the case in the former Soviet Union. The 1986

Chernobyl nuclear disaster jolted the citizenry into public discussion

about environmental hazards, questioning the wisdom of operating

Chernobyl-style nuclear reactors, and even contributed to the bold

questioning of the legitimacy of the Communist Party's right to rule

the USSR itself. I chaired a hearing of the Helsinki Commission on the

tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, authored a resolution

which passed the House calling for the safe and expeditious closure of

the Chernobyl reactor, and have supported projects and programs which

have sought to assist the children who have been affected by the

life-robbing effects of this disaster. I am very pleased that,

finally, in less than 10 days the plant will finally cease operations

and will be closed. This has been a fourteen year struggle.

Environmental activists have time and again come under the watchful

eye of a police state or autocratic governments. Tyrants know full

well that the freedom to raise troubling questions about the

government's environmental policies often leads to challenges to the

government on many other issues as well. Even in this post-Soviet era,

though, there has been cause for concern, and advocacy on our account,

for individuals who have been willing to speak up against the

ill-founded decisions of the government.

One such case I have worked on over the last few years is that of

andr Nikitin, director of the Environmental Rights Center in St.

sburg, Russia. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Nikitin in July

1999, in his home city. As Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, I have

raised his case in numerous venues and this past July had the honor of

convening a public briefing with Mr. Nikitin while he was in

Washington on behalf of Amnesty International USA, the Sierra Club,

and others. He had been accused of obtaining and divulging " state

secrets " in connection with his work with the Norwegian environmental

organization " Bellona " in exposing harmful nuclear waste disposal

practices by the Russian Northern Fleet in the White Sea region.

Arrested in February 1996, he was held in pre-trial detention for ten

months, and then released under the condition that he not leave St.

sburg.

In 1998, after several attempts by the St. sburg Procuracy and

the Russian security services to produce a viable indictment,

Nikitin's first trial ended inconclusively, with the judge sending the

case back for further investigation. He was finally acquitted in

December 1999, a decision upheld by the Russian Supreme Court in April

2000. As you probably know, the legal struggle continued until

September when the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court upheld the

acquittal. More recently the St. sburg City Court ordered

Russia's nuclear minister to pay Nikitin an equivalent of $350 for

having publicly called him a spy.

The legal battle was long but an important legal defense of an

environmental activist.

There are important lessons in this struggle that should encourage

other environmental champions such as Ka Hsaw Wa from Burma. Certainly

the testimony presented in my subcommittee by Michele Keegan - my

constituent who is a student member of the Free Burma Coalition -

following her detention in Burma for having stood in solidarity with

Burmese longing for human rights and democracy, reminds us that

speaking up for human rights, for democratic ideals, or in support of

environmental safeguards and protections, can have serious risks. Ms.

Keegan testified that, during her six days of detention, she was

spared the usual treatment, which includes torture, rape and

imprisonment, because she was an American. The experience of others is

often quite grim.

I commend Amnesty International and the Sierra Club for standing

beside those who face detention, torture and legal harassment by their

own governments. As a Member of Congress who is committed to defend

basic human rights, I assure you that I will continue my diligent

efforts to speak out on behalf of the innocent, the voiceless, and the

courageous who put their own lives and families at risk for a

righteous cause.

# # #

Dennis W. Schvejda

Conservation Chair

NJ Chapter Sierra Club

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