David R. Boyd, the UN special rapporteur for human rights and the environment, recently submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Central Jakarta District Court in support of arguments that officials have violated a constitutional right.

The Coalition for the Capital on Tuesday confirmed that the court had received the amicus brief, which is presented by someone interested in influencing the outcome of a lawsuit but who is not a party to it.

Boyd said that protecting people from the harmful effects of air pollution is a constitutional and legislative obligation of the Indonesian government, and not an option.

“The failure of Indonesian [officials] to improve substandard outdoor air quality in Jakarta, especially when they have failed to act with the requisite degree of urgency and diligence in the face of prolonged and persistent exceedances of air quality standards, is a violation of the constitutional right to a good and healthy environment,” he concluded in the 19-page document submitted last month.

Having served more than 25 years as an environmental lawyer, Boyd said he decided to submit the brief to address this particular case in Jakarta because of its global importance.

As one of the world’s largest capital cities, Jakarta suffers from extremely poor air quality, despite the fact that the country itself recognizes the right to a healthy environment in its constitution and body of legislation.

“My intention is to assist the court in developing Indonesia’s jurisprudence by providing an expert perspective on relevant international human rights law and comparative constitutional law.”

Boyd addressed five topics in his submission, including access to justice and the right to a healthy environment and relevant evidence on the adverse impacts of air pollution on health and human rights in Indonesia.

“The justiciability of the right to a healthy environment empowers citizens and civil society, strengthens democratic decision-making and promotes accountability,” he said.

He also addressed Indonesia’s obligations under international treaties ratified by Indonesia and other instruments such as declarations, principles and decisions of international treaty bodies, as well as regional and international courts.

The obligations inform the interpretation of the 1945 Constitution, Law No. 39/1999 on human rights and Law No. 32/2009 on environmental protection and management, he said.

Finally, he provided comparable examples of constitutional jurisprudence in other countries to interpret the right to a healthy environment, and offered seven key actions required for the governments of Indonesia and Jakarta, complete with applications translated for the capital’s conditions.

The Coalition for the Clean Air Initiative filed the historic lawsuit on July 4, 2019 against seven state officials, including President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, but progress at the court has been sluggish.

Coalition member Ayu Eza Tiara from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said the court examined a witness last Thursday and had scheduled hearings for two more witnesses.

The witnesses were people who had been affected by air pollution in Jakarta or who had sufficient knowledge of air pollution, whom the coalition met through an open call a week before Thursday’s trial.

Responding to the UN expert’s brief, Ayu said the coalition was grateful, as they now felt their struggles had been recognized by the international community.

“Even though the amicus curiae is not legally binding and only serves as new information for the judges, we hope the court will become more serious and observant, and the judges can decide the case as fairly as possible,” Ayu told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Ayu expressed her disappointment with the defendants, whom she said had continuously looked for loopholes to defend themselves even though the evidence presented was sufficient to prove them wrong.

The daily air pollution level in Greater Jakarta, which is home to some 30 million people, is equivalent to smoking nearly three cigarettes per day. While the situation has somewhat improved under the social restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, air quality levels are still nowhere near the average air pollution equivalent in the United States, which stands at 0.4 cigarettes per day.

The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) estimates that the average resident will lose 4.9 years of life expectancy as a result of air pollution. Globally, 8 million people die each year from air pollution-related diseases – more than the combined fatalities from COVID-19, tuberculosis, malaria and car accidents.