Representatives of the public will be elected under the Escazú Agreement

The Secretariat of the Escazú Agreement called interested persons to present their candidacies until August 31, 2022.

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The Rules of Procedure of the Conference of the Parties (COP) approved in the first COP of Escazú during April of this year, establish the need to integrate the institutional devices of Escazú with people representing the public.

Within this framework, the Secretariat of the Agreement summoned interested persons to present their candidacies until August 31 of this year. For such purpose, it elaborated a regulation that establishes the procedure of the election in its totality. Six will be the people representing the public who will divide their roles in the Board of Directors of the Agreement (1 representative), in the Conference of the Parties (two seats) and in the Committee for Support of the Application and Compliance composed of (CAAC).

According to this regulation, those who are interested in presenting a candidacy must:

• Be nationals or residents of any of the countries that make up Annex I of the Escazú Agreement (signatory countries).
• Be registered in the so-called Regional Public Mechanism.
• Not having had a labor relationship with the State (national, provincial or municipal) 12 months prior to the election.
• Submit the forms attached to the regulation.

On the other hand, the elections will be held on November 2 and 3, 2022. To take part in the vote, interested persons must register with the Regional Public Mechanism. The closing of the register will take place 15 business days after August 1, 2022 (date of the call). It is not clear whether these working days will be according to the calendar of the country in which ECLAC has its headquarters, although assuming that there are no holidays in the referred period, the closing of the register would be on August 19, 2022.

The election of the representatives constitutes a valuable and innovative process for the region. We encourage active participation in the voting process and election of candidates, trusting that it constitutes a fundamental opportunity for visibility and demand in the enjoyment of access rights, and in a framework plagued by conflicts and environmental problems.

Documents of interest

• Regulations for submitting applications with attached forms.
• Form for the presentation of the candidacy (Annex 1). [To download]
• Affidavit for the presentation of the candidacy (Annex 2). [To download]
• Website to register for the Regional Public Mechanism (necessary to vote)
• Rules of procedure approved at COP 1 in Escazú – 2022.

Contact

Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org