1. Background:

The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (“Escazú Agreement”) is the first regional environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean and the first in the world to contain specific provisions for the protection of human rights defenders in environmental matters.

Article 9 of the Escazú Agreement stipulates that each Party shall ensure a safe and enabling environment in which individuals, groups and organisations promoting and defending human rights in environmental matters may act without threats, restrictions or insecurity. Furthermore, each Party shall take appropriate and effective measures to recognise, protect and promote their rights, as well as appropriate, effective and timely measures to prevent, investigate and punish attacks, threats or intimidation that they may suffer in the exercise of the rights under the Agreement.

To support the implementation of Article 9 of the Agreement, the First Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement (COP1), held in Santiago from 20 to 22 April 2022, in its Decision I/6 agreed to establish an ad hoc working group “of open membership on human rights defenders in environmental matters” (or Working Group), which was tasked with drafting “an action plan on the matter, to be presented at the second ordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties for consideration and approval”. Consequently, the action plan was adopted by Decision III/2 of the Third Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago from 22 to 24 April 2024.

The approved Action Plan sets in motion a set of priority areas and strategic actions to advance towards the full and effective implementation of Article 9 of the Escazú Agreement, with a deadline for implementation of April 2030. Furthermore, to facilitate its implementation, it was decided to maintain the open-ended ad hoc Working Group (or Working Group), currently coordinated by Chile, Ecuador and Saint Kitts and Nevis, until the close of the ordinary session of the COP in 2030. The Group’s new mandate is to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions included in the Action Plan and to report to the Conference of the Parties.

The Action Plan contains four priority areas (knowledge generation, recognition, capacity building and cooperation, and evaluation, monitoring and review of the plan) and 20 strategic actions. Under its first priority area, on knowledge generation, the plan provides for the development of an assessment “on the situation of individuals, groups and organisations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters in the States Parties (…)”. This assessment will be carried out between 2026 and 2027 and will include a methodological design and a participatory data collection mechanism, as well as a summary report and conclusions, and must be published on the P10 Observatory.

The session will address the implementation of the Action Plan and will report on the next steps in preparing the assessment ahead of the next Regional Forum in 2027, inviting various stakeholders involved in this area to contribute to its effective implementation.

2. Objective:

To report on and discuss the progress and next steps of the action plan on human rights defenders on environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, and particularly the preparation of the regional assessment.

3. Agenda:

• Moderator: Chair

• Report from the Coordination of the Ad Hoc Working Group

• Carole Excel, Vice-Chair of the Committee to Support Implementation and Compliance

• Joara Marchezini, Elected representative of the public