SLAPP Suits Worldwide
SLAPPs are are on the rise around the world. As human rights defenders co-ordinate locally and globally, their powerful resistance to corporations whose harmful activities impact on environmental, social and cultural rights, has attracted the ire of those that they oppose. Their resistance is however, undeterred and as a multitude of reports and studies have shown, SLAPPs are being better understood and better defended around the world. Here are links to some of our partners, locally and internationally, who are working on SLAPPs. Their resources may be of use in the resistance!
International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL)
Looking for an anti-SLAPP strategy? Our partners at ICNL have put together some great guidelines for resisting SLAPP in the Global South.
Protecting Activists from Abusive Litigation SLAPPs in the Global South and How to Respond
ICNL presents the first cross-regional survey of SLAPPs in the Global South, along with the first rigorous comparative analysis of anti-SLAPP policy responses undertaken in the Global North and the Global South. Our survey shows that SLAPPs pose a serious threat to the exercise of fundamental freedoms in the Global South, particularly for activists, civil society organizations, journalists, and community members who dare to criticize powerful entities.
Greenpeace International
Read about how more than 100 NGOs and 32 members of the European Parliament have called for an EU anti-SLAPP directive and funds to support all victims of SLAPPs. See some of the cases, as documented in this report.
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC)
The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) is an international human rights organization that works with everyone to advance human rights in business and eradicate abuse. A key priority for the Resource Centre is supporting and amplifying the vital work of human rights defenders. As part of this work, the Resource Centre tracks attacks against human rights defenders focused on business activities and has tracked nearly 2,500 attacks to date, with SLAPPs being one type of attack commonly used by private actors to silence and intimidate defenders.In 2019, the Resource Centre began conducting in-depth research on the scale and nature of SLAPPs globally in order to better understand this tactic aimed at silencing dissent, address knowledge gaps, and to support partners’ efforts to stop the use of SLAPPs. The Resource Centre will launch a publicly available centralized hub of data about SLAPPs globally, a database of cases, and an analysis of trends by April 2021.
- To formulate well considered anti-SLAPP strategies, read more about SLAPP in Southeast Asia. Our partners at the BHRRC have compiled cases of SLAPP as well as recommendations for governments, businesses and civil society. A March 2020 briefing paper provides some additional information for Defending Defenders.
- Silencing the Critics: How big polluters try to paralyse environmental and human rights advocacy through the courts
- Case Profiles
- Lawyers’ Insights on Corporate Legal Accountability
The Coalition Against SLAPPS in Europe (CASE)
CASE is a coalition of non-governmental organisations from across Europe united in recognition of the threat posed to public watchdogs by Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).
Digital Media Law Project
Understanding SLAPP, anti-SLAPP legislation in other parts of the world as well as tried and tested strategies for defending SLAPP helps to formulate good anti-SLAPP strategies. Read more about state specific anti-SLAPP legislation in the United States.* This website is no longer updated but contains useful reference to anti-SLAPP legislation.