UNAIR NEWS – UNAIR Faculty of Law Dean, Iman Prihandono, SH, MH, LL.M., Ph.D., was invited as a speaker in the National Legal Discussion, an activity held by ALSA LC UNAIR in commemoration of Environment Day on Saturday afternoon, June 5, 2021. The main topic of the activity is ecocides and the future legal framework to eradicate ecocidal crimes.

As an expert in Business and Human Rights, Iman presents environmental issues from those perspectives. Iman said that the environmental damages in the world are often caused by corporate actions. He added that the extractive industries caused environmental degradation and other forms of human rights violations such as resettlement without proper compensation, forced labor, gender-based violence, violations of freedom of expression, and extrajudicial killing of security forces involved with the corrupt companies.

“This issue will be further amplified as the energy industry transitions to renewable energy. It is reflected in the BHRRC research, which states that there are 197 allegations of human rights violations against projects related to renewable energy,” said the Macquarie University alumnus.

Mining remains a key project in the transition to renewable energy. Demand for raw materials used for batteries skyrocketed, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and bronze. Iman regretted that the transition also leads to many human rights violations due to non-renewable energy mining, such as oil and coal.

“The norms of Business and Human Rights refer to the instrument, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Even though this instrument is not legally binding, there have been several countries that have made this instrument a reference in their national law,” said Iman.

He gave an example of Milieudefinsie et al. v. Royal Dutch Shell plc. in the Netherlands. The local court ruling requires the RDS corporation to reduce all forms of emissions produced by all Shell Group companies, both directly (from producers) and indirectly (from consumers) by 45% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. Iman added that the ruling also refers to the duty of care norms reflected in the UNGPs.

“This is interesting because RDS is an oil company, how do we oblige oil companies not to discharge emissions? The decision is a form of firm commitment in the context of suppressing global warming in the context of corporate obligations,” he concluded.

Author: Pradnya Wicaksana

Editor: Nuri Hermawan