Tag Archive for: Environmental Democracy

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We participated in COP2 of the Escazú Agreement

On April 19, 20 and 21, we participated in Buenos Aires in the Second Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement (COP2), of an extraordinary nature. The main objective was to elect the first members of the Support Committee for the Application and Compliance of the treaty, a body that will accompany the countries in the implementation of the Agreement.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

During those days, continuity was given to the work that had begun a year ago at COP1 in Santiago de Chile, where it was agreed to hold the extraordinary meeting of 2023 in order to reach certain “agreements” between the member countries that allow the effective application from Escazú as soon as possible. In this sense, different discussions took place around the existing challenges to strengthen access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.

The official Conference was held in the rooms of the Hotel Libertador and in parallel there were also a series of talks, workshops and meetings organized by the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Nation in conjunction with civil society organizations. civil. The parallel events were enriching since there were exchanges of experiences, knowledge and knowledge regarding the implementation of the Agreement in the different countries.

On the second day of the COP, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) presented the Implementation Guide, which provides information, guidance and different options for States to carry out the Agreement. pointing out Secretary Carlos de Miguel pointed out that “Escazú must be interpreted in an integral way, with a holistic approach and in good faith.” Some States also presented their implementation plans, Argentina communicated the actions that are being developed within the framework of the Fifth National Action Plan for Open Government.

However, the most significant exchanges and interventions occurred when addressing the Action Plan for Environmental Defenders, an instrument that will allow progress towards the full and effective implementation of Article 9 of the Agreement, which establishes that each State party must guarantee a safe environment for people who defend rights in environmental matters. This is essential since Latin America and the Caribbean are more dangerous regions for environmental defenders. There, the original peoples were the protagonists by manifesting the entire path that remains to be traveled and the innumerable existing needs, among them, having effective participation in environmental protection and justice measures, according to their realities.

The defenders of the province of Córdoba were also able to express their claims through the voice of a neighbor who was a member of Vecinxs Unidxs del Barrio San Antonio, who expressed the serious situation of the defenders who were charged with the cause of the Punilla Highway and the conflict with the company Porta Hnos, among others.

In addition, the defenders put on the table the need for the Agreement to contain a gender perspective. In this sense, they stated that it is necessary to make visible the differentiated risks that women defenders have, to vindicate and make visible the role of women as defenders of life and the environment.

Regarding the election of the Support Committee for the Application and Compliance with the Treaty, the States Parties were in charge of electing the seven members of this new instance: Andrés María Napoli (Argentina), Guillermo Eduardo Acuña (Chile), Mariana Blengio Valdés (Uruguay), Rita Leonette Joseph-Olivetti (Granada), Patricia Madrigal Cordero (Costa Rica), Carole Denise Angela Stephens (Jamaica) and Félix Wing Solís (Panama). For the election, criteria of experience in the subject, geographical distribution, gender parity and legal trajectory were taken into account.

The preparation of an Action Plan that establishes protection standards for human rights defenders in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean was also presented. This plan is made available and considered through a Public Consultation available until June 21 on the ECLAC website.

It is essential to note that citizen participation, one of the strengths of the Escazú Agreement, has been a matter of discussion since the beginning of the conference, since many people could not participate in the event due to the accreditation system for official activities. We must express our annoyance and concern in this regard, given that many defenders were unable to enter the sessions even when there was space in the room. On the other hand, we welcome Brazil’s commitment to be part of the Agreement in the short term, and we urge the other States of the region to ratify it.

We highlight, once again, that Escazú constitutes an essential tool for the protection of the environment in the region, strengthens the work that local communities are carrying out and provides concrete tools to achieve the human right to a healthy environment. For these reasons, we consider it essential that spaces for discussion continue to be generated and fostered so that the Agreement is implemented as soon as possible in all the countries of the region.

 

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Authors

Ananda Lavayén

Carrizo Maria Laura

Contact

lauracarrizo@fundeps.org

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Lithium and Transparency in Argentina

Throughout this report we will discuss, first of all, a series of data on the current situation of Argentina in relation to lithium production that places it in a central role within the world concert. Then we will focus on the mining governance system, stating the laws that configure it, its main elements and those points that merit further analysis. Subsequently, we will address, from some indicators suggested by the Standard, the two projects that are in the lithium production stage in Argentina: the Fénix Project in the Hombre Muerto salt flat and Sales de Jujuy in the Olaroz-Cauchari salt flat. In particular, regarding whether or not to publicize their contracts, as a fundamental link in terms of publicity and transparency in the development of these projects.

Descargar Documento / Download File
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Workshops: How to access environmental rights? Escazú agreement for communities

In the month of March we will start the cycle of workshops “How to access environmental rights? Escazú Agreement for communities”, within the framework of the project “Escazú Agreement: What happens in Córdoba?”, which aims to promote capacities regarding the rights provided for in the Agreement in our province and strengthen community tools to demand its application.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

At the end of last year, we developed the first stage of the project through monitoring and diagnosis of compliance with the rights provided for in the Escazú Agreement (rights of access to information, participation and justice) in our province. The results we obtained aroused great concern about the limited access, by communities, to the rights and tools that the Agreement grants.

Based on the above, the objective of this second stage is to advance in the promotion and consolidation of capacities of the local community, through a cycle of empowerment workshops on the tools provided by this agreement, which was incorporated into our legislation. Within this framework, we will develop four workshops in different strategic locations in the province, with the following schedule:

  • Alta Gracia – March 18 (9 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Club Central)
  • Villa María – March 31 (5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. – Universidad Nacional de Villa María)
  • Cosquín – April 15 (9 a.m. to 12 p.m. – Sociedad Española)
  • Córdoba – April 28 (in the Amphitheater of the Siglo 21 University – Ituzaingó 484, Nueva Córdoba)

The content of the meetings is presented in 2 large modules:

  1. the first deals with environmental conflicts and essential notions of the human right to a healthy environment and environmental policy;
  2. while in the second it delves into the Escazú Agreement and the rights of access to information, participation and justice.

The speaker will be the lawyer and university professor María Laura Foradori, who is also a specialist in environmental education and a master’s degree in environment and sustainable development, member of ACACIA, a network of environmental lawyers.

We believe that these meetings are very important for the construction of networks and collective knowledge from the territories in struggle against environmental conflicts in our province. We hope that all interested people can join!

 

Sign up here:bit.ly/TalleresDerechosAmbientales

 

This activity is supported by:

Mesa por el Agua y el Ambiente Alta Gracia – Feria Agroecológica Córdoba – Vecinos Unidos en Defensa de un Ambiente Seguro (Fuera Porta) – Vecinos autoconvocados por la salud y el ambiente Marcos Juárez – ACACIA Derecho Ambiental – RACC (Red de Abogacía Comunitaria) – Legal Empowerment Fund – Universidad Villa María – Universidad Siglo 21

 

More Information

 

Contact

Laura Carrizo, lauracarrizo@fundeps.org

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Diagnosis – The effects of Climate Change in the province of Córdoba

The present work aims to reveal the climatic phenomena that occurred throughout the years 2000 to 2020 in the province of Córdoba and based on this, make visible the local reality and the serious impacts of climate change year after year, as well as public policies existing to date.

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We reject the modifications to the environmental policy law of Córdoba

More than 200 people and civil society organizations manifested to the Legislature of the Province of Córdoba our rejection of the recent modifications to Provincial Law 10,208.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Together with numerous people and civil society organizations, we express to the Provincial Legislature, through a note, the deep concern generated from the modification of Annexes I and II of Law 10208 of provincial environmental policy.

We believe that the treatment and subsequent approval process violated and seriously violates human and fundamental rights, both procedurally and substantially. In addition, the modification implies an unfortunate setback in the protection of the environment, failing to comply with rules, principles and rights guaranteed by current environmental regulations and commits the State because it constitutes a violation of international commitments assumed, for example, through the Escazú Agreement. .

The modifications made to Law 10,208 do not constitute simple wording changes, but imply a serious reduction in the requirements established by the law and that have a worrying impact on the activities subject to Environmental Impact Assessment to the detriment of the environment and ecosystems. In this sense, they expressly violate the principle of progressivity and non-regression accepted in our legal system (General Environmental Law, Law 10,208, Escazú Agreement).

The process that led to the sanction of the project was not disclosed to the public. The design of the project, its treatment in committee and its parliamentary discussion, not only occurred in a very short time, but also disabled any type of device that guarantees citizen participation, in contrast to and to the detriment of the broad legitimacy and social participation that it had. Law 10,208.

For all these reasons, the approved project constitutes a clear violation of the rights of access to public environmental information and public participation in environmental matters. At the same time, it violates the principle of progressiveness and environmental non-regression, sustainability, preventive and precautionary.

In this framework, we urge the repeal of the sanctioned project in order to restore the protection standards in force before its approval.

See letter sent and signatories of the request.

 

Contact

  • Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org
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We repudiate the criminalization of Environmental and Territorial Defenders of Punilla

Within the framework of the protests that have been taking place against the Punilla highway project, some of the environmental defenders who resist the progress of the project were summoned for indictment and in some cases there were arrests by the judicial authorities.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The defenders of the territory and the environment of Punilla have been resisting the advancement of the Punilla highway project for a long time. In the course of this resistance they are victims of different acts of institutional violence. We celebrate the ruling issued by the Court of Control and Misdemeanors No. 9 that resolves to make room for collective habeas corpus of a preventive nature presented in favor of the human rights defenders of Punilla, Paravachasca and Sierras Chicas.

In recent weeks, some land and environmental defenders have been suffering police persecution, submission to criminal proceedings, accusations by prosecutors, and there have even been arrests. Crimes such as threats and resistance to authority are attributed to them, within the framework of the various social protests that have been taking place around the advance of the Punilla Highway.

It should be noted that in a context of struggle and resistance for the defense of the environment, the demonstrations or actions given in the exercise of the right to protest cannot be distorted and manipulated for the illegitimate application of the penal system (which usually happens). Criminalization as a strategy to intimidate, disqualify the environmental claim and justify the use of public force and repressive mechanisms -deprivation of liberty-, constitute a grave and serious violation of fundamental rights and compromise the international responsibility of the State ( Escazú Agreement between them).

The persecutions, accusations, investigations and arrests ordered against Punilla’s defenders raise alarms and demand attention. Well, there are nuances that place the actions of the State under suspicion of criminalization as a method to silence social protest. The alleged threats or acts of resistance to authority, on which the accusations were based -according to what the defenders stated- were in the framework of a legitimate collective claim -social protest sustained over time- in an act in defense of the environment against of a project undertaken by the State. This should alert the authorities so that measures are taken to guarantee the protection of their human rights, and take extreme care in the event of any deprivation of liberty or violation of any other right.

The criminalization of environmental defenders stigmatizes while constituting an intimidation tending to frighten and as a consequence weaken the activities of defense of the territory and the environment until their disappearance. It is a duty of the State to protect the right to defend the environment and implement action measures that promote a safe environment free of violence, and that any human rights violation against it be investigated.

In this context, on August 24, the Judge of Control and Misdemeanors No. 9, in the case “Rocío Loza, habeas corpus” (File No. 11120830), in a novel and exemplary ruling, gave rise to a preventive collective habeas corpus directed to protect the fundamental rights of human rights defenders in environmental matters, residents of the valleys of Punilla, Paravachasca and Sierras Chicas. She points out that the institutional violence that the police of the province have been exercising against environmental defenders is serious and cannot be ignored by the State, which has the obligation and responsibility to give adequate custody to the environmental group in compliance with Escazú.

It also states that the members of the police forces are in charge of caring for society, “(…) those who must, with the power conferred by law, guarantee that all the inhabitants of this province live a life within the framework of the full enjoyment of individual rights, with the limit of respect for the rights of others, but without this being used as an “excuse” or argument to curtail other rights, in this case, those claimed by the environmental collective”.

It also states that the members of the police forces are in charge of caring for society, “(…) those who must, with the power conferred by law, guarantee that all the inhabitants of this province live a life within the framework of the full enjoyment of individual rights, with the limit of respect for the rights of others, but without this being used as an “excuse” or argument to curtail other rights, in this case, those claimed by the environmental collective” .

In that same sense, in an innovative sentence, the Judge resolves: to exhort the police of the Province of Córdoba to refrain from carrying out measures that imply limitations or threats to the freedom of movement of environmental defenders of the indicated localities; urge the Police Chief of Córdoba to inform police personnel that, according to protocols and current legislation, “deprivation of liberty only proceeds exceptionally and when it is absolutely necessary”; to recommend to the Government of Córdoba the elaboration of a protocol aimed at specifically regulating the practices and criteria of the security forces in social demonstrations that demand the protection of constitutional rights; entrust the Chief of Police to inform the provincial police of this sentence.

From Fundeps we repudiate the criminalization of environmental defenders, we urge the authorities to safeguard and protect the fundamental rights of those who resist and fight to defend the Cordovan environment, and we celebrate the recent ruling which constitutes an important advance in the recognition and defense of rights of the environmental group.

 

Author

  • Laura Carrizo

Contact

  • Laura Carrizo, lauracarrizo@fundeps.org
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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.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

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

Contact

Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

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We adhere to the statement against the aggression against environmental defenders at the UNC

Within the framework of the “Educational Forum: skills for global citizenship”, the current and outgoing rector of the University, offended environmental defenders who were demonstrating before representatives of the Andean Development Corporation on the Punilla highway.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

On June 15 at the UNC, an event was held in which representatives of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), a multilateral financial institution that finances the Punilla highway project, were present. In this context, the environmental defenders demanded that the CAF authorities violate the environmental safeguard systems, and the impact on the environment that the project implies.

Faced with this intervention, the current rector of the National University of Córdoba, Hugo Juri, who represented the institution at the conference, publicly offended environmental defenders by associating their actions with the financing of institutions linked to the Nazi genocide, among other sayings.

This undoubtedly constitutes an act of violence and intimidation that seriously affects the guarantees incorporated in the Escazú Agreement. It is that the art. 9th of the treaty protects environmental defenders, guaranteeing them a safe and conducive environment for the exercise of their rights to protest, opinion and freedom of expression. In addition, it obliges the authorities to adopt measures to prevent and punish attacks, threats or intimidation.

In repudiation of the actions of the rector Juri, we adhere to the statement made by the teachers and researchers of the UNC, requesting the retraction and request for an apology towards environmental defenders, and we demand the adoption of measures that protect their fundamental rights.

 

More Information

Contact

Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

 

*Photo taken from the Museum of Anthropology website

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We participate in the Environment and Education Commission of the Provincial Legislature

On June 9 of this year, we were summoned, together with other representatives of civil society, to participate in the meeting of the Environment and Education Commission of the Provincial Legislature.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The purpose of the meeting was to present the Circular Economy Summit and discuss the bill for provincial adherence to the National Law on Comprehensive Environmental Education. The project aims to incorporate the tools and guidelines to implement Comprehensive Environmental Education into the framework of local environmental policies.

The opening of the meeting to people and organizations that work on environmental issues at the local level is part of a good practice that the Commission has been implementing for certain initiatives, such as adherence to the Yolanda Law. A valuable space in which those who were part of it were able to offer their opinions on the relevance of Comprehensive Environmental Education and make suggestions for the project. This strengthening of instances of participatory democracy is undoubtedly in accordance with the commitments assumed in the Escazú Agreement.

In relation to the project, although it is an adhesion, it constitutes an important starting point to design strategies that allow modifying the cultural and ethical bases of the current production, commercialization and consumption systems in society. The comprehensive education proposed by the law has the virtue of addressing both formal and informal educational contexts, media and public policies in a transversal way.

Although the project plans to incorporate into the provincial regulations the same text as that provided for in the national law, through adherence, we believe that some institutions should expressly provide for it in the local version. From Fundeps we explained the reasons why we believe that the law should provide for the following items:

Basic guidelines for the construction of the Comprehensive Environmental Education Jurisdictional Strategy (EJEAI)

The EJEAI is the instrument of permanent and concerted strategic planning, with scope in formal and non-formal areas of education, information technology and communication media, with a participatory, territorialized basis.

It is outlined as a fundamental and main instrument to develop Comprehensive Environmental Education at the provincial level. At this point we believe that the law should expressly mention the basic guidelines for its configuration, such as: anchoring in the socio-environmental problems and conflicts of the Province, empowerment in the exercise of access and environmental rights, public participation devices, among others.

Executive Coordination of the Jurisdictional Strategy

We maintain that the law should expressly incorporate the creation of the Executive Coordination of the strategy, determining -just like the national law- the method of conformation of the body, to carry out the management and administration of the strategy.

Local Advisory Council

We recommend that the local law expressly incorporate the creation of a local Consultative Council made up of diverse actors, in charge of providing support and feedback to the Coordination for the implementation and monitoring of the Jurisdictional Strategy.

Beyond the fact that we consider that the recommendations provided would generate a superior project, we recognize the importance of adhesion and we celebrate the parliamentary work on this path, especially when it is implemented based on the participation of civil society.

 

More Information

Contact

Juan Bautista López, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

 

* Photo taken from the Diario Comercio y Justicia

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We request to participate in the project of access to justice of the Judicial Power

The Office of Human Rights and Justice of the Judiciary of the province of Córdoba, carries out the research-action project on access to justice for vulnerable sectors. From Fundeps we request to participate by providing contributions.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

This project aims to develop strategies to improve access to Justice for groups in vulnerable conditions. A second edition of the project is currently underway.

In this stage, access to justice for migrant populations, native peoples, and cases that affect the environment will be worked on. According to the project’s website, it seeks to promote tools to facilitate access to justice, particularly for people or groups of people in situations of vulnerability. It is promoted as a participatory and collective public policy.

The preparation of protocols for access to justice in environmental matters constitutes an initiative in accordance with the commitments assumed by Argentina in the Escazú Agreement. In previous editions, protocols, rights booklets, among other tools aimed at the general public and justice operators were prepared.

In this framework, we ask the Judiciary to open mechanisms for the significant participation of civil society to provide input and enrich the process of building tools. We believe that in the framework of the Escazú Agreement, participation is emerging as an imperative for any policy that may have an impact on the enjoyment of access rights, including access to justice.

These types of initiatives are extremely valuable in a context where environmental problems and conflicts linked to access to public participation, environmental information and justice are commonplace.

Author

Ana Sol Olivera

Contact

Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

*Image source: Justice Córdoba

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A judicial resolution with a focus on environmental defenders

Within the framework of the neighborhood camp in the town of Molinari for the construction of the Punilla Highway, the Cosquín Control Court resolved a habeas corpus action. In the resolution, the Court highlighted the obligation to guarantee a safe environment for environmental defenders in accordance with the standards set by the Escazú Agreement.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

As reported in the media, during the first weeks of May a self-convened group of neighbors was camping in the town of Molinari as a way of protesting against the construction of the Punilla highway. In favor of this group of people, a habeas corpus action was filed before the Control Court of the city of Cosquín.

Let us remember that this action is foreseen in article 43 of the National Constitution. In short, its purpose is to protect the physical freedom of people against any real threat or actual deprivation of liberty that is illegal (arrests/detentions).

After analyzing the situation, the Court gave the reasons why it considered that the requirements for the origin of habeas corpus were not met. He considered, based on the evidence collected, that no illegal arrest or detention had been carried out, nor was there a certain and imminent threat of deprivation of physical liberty.

However, the Court considered other rights at stake, such as the right to protest, petition the authorities, and opinion, among others. Thus, regarding the way in which the eviction of the neighbors by the security forces took place -according to his statements-, he considered that this should be the subject of investigation by the corresponding bodies (Prosecutor’s Office) forwarding a copy of the performances.

What is interesting and novel about the resolution is that, going beyond the strict object of the habeas corpus action, the Court assessed the statements of the neighbors in relation to what happened and the environmental nature of the protest. In this approach, he recommended to the police authorities and the Prosecutor’s Office that a safe environment be guaranteed for the exercise of these rights -as long as other rights are not affected-, citing and applying article 9 of the Escazú Agreement on environmental defenders. 

This treaty, let us remember, is the only international instrument that guarantees environmental defenders specific standards of protection of their rights. This protection framework is due to the fact that Latin America and the Caribbean is the most dangerous region for environmental defenders (227 deaths in 2020 according to the Global Witness Foundation).

Although the Escazú Agreement has been in force for a year, the resolution of the Cosquín Control Court would be the first judicial precedent in the Latin American and Caribbean region to apply the provision on environmental defenders of Escazú to guarantee a safe environment in accordance with recorded to date Even in the absence of specific regulations at the local level, these clauses are fully operational and must be applied by all state authorities. Undoubtedly, the jurisprudential advance constitutes a strong impulse on the road towards the effective implementation of Escazú.

 

See judicial resolution of the Control Court

More Information

Contact

Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

 

*Photo taken from La Izquierda Diario

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The eviction in Molinari and the guarantees of the Escazú Agreement

According to their testimony, the neighbors who claim against the Punilla highway project were violently evicted by the Provincial Police personnel from the camp they were carrying out in the vicinity of Molinari.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

According to what they said, the security forces arrived at the camp in the early hours of the morning and evicted them illegally, using violence and without a court order. There, the neighbors, environmental defenders in the terms of art. 9 of the Escazú Agreement, they protested in a peaceful way.

These types of actions that oppose peaceful protest by the security forces, violate fundamental rights such as the right to protest, association, opinion and expression, putting personal integrity at risk, protected by the international instruments and by the National Constitution. In addition, they constitute a serious violation of the specific provisions incorporated in the Escazú Agreement.

Let us remember that the Agreement is an international treaty that is in force in the Argentine Republic and whose provisions must be fulfilled and respected by all state authorities, including the security forces and authorities of the three state powers.

Article 9 of the treaty obliges these authorities to guarantee environmental defenders a safe environment to act without threats, restrictions and insecurity. For its part, it obliges them to take adequate and effective measures to protect and promote the rights:
– to the life
– to personal integrity
– to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
– to circulate freely
– to exercise the rights of access to information, public participation and justice.
Likewise, it obliges to adopt appropriate, effective and timely measures to prevent, investigate and punish any attack, threat or intimidation.

These measures must be adopted by all authorities, even in response to the actions of the security forces. Along these lines, a specific and differentiated duty is generated in those state institutions whose purpose is the protection of fundamental rights, such as the Ombudsman’s Office, the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents, Senaf, the Public Ministry or judicial offices.

In this framework, the legal system has some instruments for the specific protection of rights. Thus, habeas corpus serves to protect the person from any act that imminently and seriously threatens the loss of their physical freedom (without this preventing the authorities from acting in the event of a crime); or in the face of the effective deprivation of physical liberty, for example, in cases of arbitrary and illegal arrest or detention.

On the other hand, the amparo action allows protecting other constitutional rights (strike, protest, freedom of assembly or association, etc.) against violations by the State or individuals.

On the other hand, there are procedures that can be activated in the face of institutional violence, such as complaints for the commission of crimes by the security forces; complaints before the National Directorate of Policies against Institutional Violence, among others.

In this catalog, the Communications before the Committee to Support the Application and Compliance of the Escazú Agreement are added. Before this body it will be possible (once it is formed) to present a communication in the event of the violation of any right recognized by Escazú, so that it intervenes in the case.

When these tools are used, the authorities must pay special attention and respond in accordance with the standards imposed by the Escazú Agreement, beyond the duty to implement actions, policies and legislative reforms that allow guaranteeing a safe environment for environmental defenders of preventative mode.

From Fundeps we repudiate any type of institutional violence such as the one that the residents of Punilla unfortunately suffered -according to their testimony-. These practices must be prevented by the authorities, guaranteeing their non-repetition and a safe and peaceful environment for the exercise of fundamental rights, especially of those who campaign for the protection of the environment.

 

More Information

Contact

Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

*La Nueva Mañana newspaper photo