Escazu Agreement set to bring environmental justice down to earth
The Escazú Agreement enters into force on Earth Day, April 22, 2021, three years after its adoption, kicking off a new phase of regional grassroots campaigns.
The challenge: to obtain government protection for land defenders and environmental activists in Latin America. This could be the toughest and most crucial phase yet.
The Escazú Agreement is the first treaty in the world to contain specific provisions on human rights defenders in environmental matters.
Civil society organizations and scientists took part in the U.N. negotiations that achieved government adoption of the agreement in Escazú, Costa Rica on March 4, 2018.
Its formal name describes it precisely as the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Justice for Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.
It obliges member states to prevent and investigate attacks against those who protect and defend environmental rights. Parties to its terms must provide reparations to victims of violence resulting from their peaceful resistance to unscrupulous development schemes.
At: https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/04/20/escazu-agreement-set-to-bring-environmental-justice-down-to-earth/
Delegates from 14 Latin American and Caribbean nations following the 2018 signing of the Escazú Agreement - the first treaty in the world to contain specific protections for environmental activists.
Though 24 Latin American and Caribbean nations eventually signed the treaty, ratification by 11 was required to bring the treaty into force.
Mexico's ratification yesterday, on Earth Day, reached that goal.
