Assessment Report on Court Decisions on Environmental
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ASSESSMENT REPORT ON COURT DECISIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL CASES Enhancement of Human Rights and Environmental Protection in Training and Policy in the Judicial Process in Indonesia July 2020 ASSESSMENT REPORT ON COURT DECISIONS ON ENVIRONMENTAL CASES Enhancement of Human Rights and Environmental Protection in Training and Policy in the Judicial Process in Indonesia July 2020 Researchers : • Nur Syarifah • Arsil • Alfeus Jebabun • Nisrina Irbah Sati • Martadina Yosefin • Adam Tri Kurniawan Contributing Researcher : Anjali Katta (Stanford University) Reviewer : Prof. David Cohen (Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice) Design and layout : Rini Okliawati ISBN : 9-786239-582210 Publisher : Lembaga Kajian dan Advokasi Independensi Peradilan (LeIP) Indonesian Institute for Independent Judiciary Puri Imperium Office Plaza, Ground Floor, Unit G1A Jalan Kuningan Madya Kav. 5-6, Kuningan, Jakarta 12980 Phone. (021) 8302088 FOREWORDS of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL). INDONESIAN INSTITUTE FOR This study complements various previous studies that discussed environmental decision issues using the method of analyzing environmental decisions. LeIP continues INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY (LeIP) to carry decision analysis approach because we believe that public discourse on court decisions must continue to be pushed into a culture for the development of Indonesian law. Furthermore, the results of this decision analysis could also become the basis of information The formulation of the Environmental Case Decision Study Report stems for the development of environmental judge personnel according to the needs of the from LeIP’s concern regarding the current environmental destruction. Massive policies judiciary. Finally, LeIP hopes that the Environmental Case Decision Study Report could be a and lifestyle changes to prevent and overcome environmental damage were carried reference for environmental judges and contribute to better environmental law enforcement. out. However, these government efforts need to be supported by environmental law enforcement through courts. In handling environmental cases, namely criminal, civil, and state administration cases, the role of judges is very important as the Liza Farihah, S.H. representatives of the state in fulfilling the rights related to the environment. Executive Director Therefore, judges need to take sides with the environment through their decisions. In the process of examining and deciding cases, environmental judges need materials related to the environment, especially studies of environmental decisions. The study of environmental decisions could trigger discourse on challenges and legal findings in environmental cases arena. One of the challenges faced in environmental cases is the inconsistency of decisions that will affect the granting of environmental rights to the wider community. Furthermore, this study of environmental decisions highlights issues that are very important in examining environmental cases, such as scientific evidence of environmental damage due to forest fires, industrial activities, mining activities and others. In addition, environmental judges are also required to always following the updates on development in environmental issues such as climate change which is a common focus of the international community, and the phenomenon of the Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (Anti-SLAPP) which is increasingly adopted by countries In order to support the environmental decision study, the Indonesian Institute for Independent Judiciary (LeIP) had conducted indexation and analysis of ± 600 environmental decisions. From the results of the decision study, various findings were found ranging from substance to procedural aspects of environmental law, such as the issue of imposing criminal charges on corporate administrators, scientific evidence, environmental permits, application of strict liability, citizen lawsuit, to issues of environmental case management and the placement of environmental judges. The findings in this study were followed with recommendations for policy makers, especially the Supreme Court. The Research Team recommends that the Supreme Court take steps to address the problem of inconsistency in environment decisions, one of which is through thematic training for judges in the regions with specific environmental trends. LeIP considers this recommendation to be something that the Supreme Court can do as a follow-up to the Environmental Judge Certification Training that has been carried out regularly by the Supreme Court. LeIP would like to thank the parties who have supported the preparation of the Environmental Case Decision Study Report, which are the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta; Stanford Center for Human Rights and International Justice, the Supreme Court ii iii FOREWORDS undermines the rule of law and prevents citizens from knowing clearly how to conform their conduct to prevailing legal standards. The adoption of this measure for assessment STANFORD CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS thus provides the foundation for objective, evidence-based advocacy, directed at the judiciary and the legislature, on the need for reform. The report also demonstrates the AND INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE significance of such a methodology more generally. Inconsistency in legal decisions is a serious concern in the Indonesian context and the report provides an example of how its methodology can be applied beyond environmental regulation to address other human rights and related issues through empirically sound analysis and advocacy. I offer my congratulations to LeIP on the completion of a landmark study of environmental court decisions in Indonesia. Although many of the serious and recurring The cases studied in the report also highlight the need for a greater use of environmental challenges facing Indonesia are well known, there has not been an in-depth scientific evidence in environmental cases. As the report shows, the courts typically rely empirical study of the ways in which the Indonesian judiciary deals with the various heavily on expert witnesses whose testimony may not be based upon or address sound kinds of environmental litigation – civil, criminal, and administrative – brought before scientific evidence presented to the court. The problem revealed by the report is twofold. the courts. Above all, this report demonstrates the need for rigorous, methodologically On the one hand, the report indicates the general lack of rigorous standards for the sound empircal research and legal analysis on the landscape of environmental cases. qualification of witnesses as ”experts” and for the evaluation of their testimony by While criticism of individual environmental decisions may be important in hightening the court. On the other hand, the kinds of issues raised by many cases require that public awareness of specific issues, such “snapshots” of individual issues in the complex the best available scientific evidence be introduced in order a greater reliance on scientific arena of environmental litigation cannot provide a sound basis for general conclusions evidence will also contribute to greater predictability and certainty in legal outcomes. and recommendations for much-needed systemic reform. To enable judges to accurately assess such scientific evidence will also require an enhancement of their preparation to hear environmental disputes. This report by LeIP fills that gap. It provides the kind of well-grounded evidence-based advocacy that is needed not just to demand reform, but, more Numerous studies have examined systemic shortcomings in legal education importantly, to show in specific detail why and where reform is needed. The specific and the training of Indonesian legal professionals. This study of environmental recommendtions of the report provide concrete guidelines for institutional measures concerns underscores the way in which this more general problem of competency that can and should be adopted to promote better and more consistent and predictable and professionalism in the judicial function arises from such shortcomings that outcomes in environmental cases. Even where an adequate statutory framework impact the quality of the analysis and reasoning in judicial decisions. In regard to the has been adopted it muist be applied by the judiciary in a competent and consistent issues the report identifies in environmental cases this points to the need to improve manner to effectively implement the environmental protections that the law was the curriculum design, training methods, and standards applied for certification in designed to promote. This report clearly and unequivocally demonstrates the ways environmental law. Apart from a greater understanding of environmental issues, in which the courts have too often failed in the application of the law. But because scientific evidence, and regulatory frameworks there is also a more fundamental the report is well grounded in empirical detail and sound analysis, it also points to need for improvement of legal skills in statutory interpretation, legal analysis, the steps the Supreme Court needs to take to ameliorate these shortcomings so decision writing, and how to apply the constitutional and statutory human rights as to more fully implement the public interests which the law aims to protect. framework in environmental cases. Because the courts are the last line of defense in environmental sustainability and in the fight against global warming the report Among the specific