“ESCAZÚ: SETTING PROTECTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN”, 23 March 2021

...In 2019, two-thirds of worldwide environmental defenders killings took place in Latin America…[:]...at least two thousand victimizing events against men and women and two hundred against organizations defending the environment and the land were recorded. Ethnic minorities suffer the worst consequences of large-scale development projects, particularly agribusiness or activities associated with extractive industries like oil and gas. In this context, the Escazú Agreement is a decisive step towards protecting human rights defenders in environmental matters. It is the first treaty in the world that aims to protect environmental defenders from threats and repression, and includes provisions related to access to information, public participation, and access to justice. In response to it, however, the business community in Latin America is feeling threatened by the Escazú Agreement and has actively lobbied against it...Since its signature, more than 400 human rights defenders have been killed in Colombia. The shifts in local power dynamics after the conflict, as well as the implementation of the land reform and illegal crop substitution programs have triggered violence against environmental defenders...Colombia’s President Ivan Duque does not periodically convene the National Commission for Security Guarantees, a body in charge of designing policies to prevent the murders of human rights defenders...As a tool designed to deal with environmental conflicts, Escazú represents a massive opportunity for Brazil and Colombia to enhance environmental democracy...Escazú will indirectly influence corporate conduct because, in a chain reaction, it requires State parties to hold corporations to certain standards...