SANTIAGO – An Action Plan on human rights defenders in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean was approved by the third Conference of the Parties (COP3) of the Escazú Agreement, which concluded this Wednesday the 24th in this Chilean capital.
The plan is structured around four interrelated and complementary priority axes: knowledge generation; recognition; capacity building, and cooperation for implementation among the nations that are parties to the pact.
The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean is known as the Escazú Agreement after the city of Costa Rica where it was adopted in 2018.
25 States are signatories, and 15 have ratified it: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Grenada, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Uruguay .
For the third conference, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the preparation of the plan was coordinated by government officials from Chile, Ecuador and Saint Kitts and Nevis, including delegations from non-governmental organizations and indigenous peoples.
The axes on which it is based seek to support actions to implement article 9 of the Treaty of Escazú, which establishes that each State party will guarantee a safe and conducive environment so that defenders of human rights in environmental matters can act without threats, restrictions and insecurity.
Likewise, it establishes that each State must take measures to recognize, protect and promote the rights of these defenders, as well as to prevent, investigate and punish attacks, threats or intimidation.
In the last decade, almost 2,000 people who defend the environment were murdered in the world, and three out of every four of those murders happened in a country in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The latest report from the NGO that keeps a record of these crimes, Global Witnessshowed that in 2022 there were 177 murders of environmental rights defenders in the world and 88% of those deaths corresponded to Latin America and the Caribbean.
The first four places in that tragic table corresponded to Colombia, with 60 deaths, Brazil with 34, Mexico with 31 and Honduras with 14.
The Action Plan foresees its development in the next six years through its application with national plans in the States parties, with regional cooperation for its evaluation, monitoring and review.
Seven countries in the region – Argentina, Belize, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Saint Lucia and Uruguay – shared their national plans, under construction or already approved, for a progressive implementation of the treaty.
These plans include strategies and actions aimed at making the Agreement widely known, updating and harmonizing internal regulations in relation to the regional pact, and coordinating the work of the different institutions and actors involved.
In addition to protecting environmentalists, the Escazú Agreement seeks to guarantee the best application of ecological policies, environmental rights, and safeguard biodiversity in times of climate crisis.
A-E/HM
2024-04-29 04:13:12