A treaty aimed at protecting activists in Latin America
could be a “life-saving” watershed in a region where scores are murdered each
year, but the pact’s success will depend on the commitment of governments and
big business, rights advocates said.
اضافة اعلان
Nicaraguan activist Lottie Cunningham, who described the
Escazu treaty as “extremely important”, has come to expect death threats and
online abuse as she fights mining and agriculture projects on indigenous lands
in the Central American country.
“We have suffered intimidation, harassment and death threats
defending indigenous rights, and mother earth and its natural resources,”
Cunningham, an indigenous lawyer, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
“It’s virtual warfare. ‘War means blood’ was one of the
messages I received on Facebook,” said Cunningham, who heads the Center for
Justice and Human Rights of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN).
Such aggression towards activists often goes beyond threats:
Nearly 300 rights activists are estimated to have been killed in Latin America
and the Caribbean last year.
But in the world’s deadliest region for campaigners like
Cunningham, the Escazu agreement is raising hopes among some that they will be
better protected, and see the perpetrators of crimes brought to justice.
The accord, which comes into force on April 22, has been
signed by 24 of the region’s 33 countries, so far, and formally ratified by 12.
Nicaragua is among the dozen nations that have agreed to make it legally
binding.
Beyond the treaty’s safeguards for activists, Cunningham
said she hoped it would allow “the effective participation” of indigenous
people in decisions about permits and concessions to companies such as mining
firms and cattle ranchers.
The treaty also obligates countries to ensure activists can
access public information on environmental cases and issues.
‘Groundbreaking’
David R. Boyd, the United Nation’s special rapporteur on
human rights and the environment, said the “groundbreaking” treaty could be “a
life-saving game changer”.
“It is the first treaty in the world that includes specific
obligations on governments to protect environmental and human rights
defenders,” he said.
“Globally some Latin American countries have been hotspots
of violence against environmental and human right defenders, and this treaty is
directly intended to address that by raising the bar and creating obligations
on governments.”
It could push countries to tighten their own laws to ensure
crimes against environmentalists, which too often go unpunished, are
investigated and perpetrators prosecuted, Boyd added.
The agreement comes into effect at a time when attacks
against activists is rising in some Latin American countries.
In the Americas last year, 284 human rights defenders were
killed, accounting for 86 percent of the global tally, according to data
published this month by campaign group
Front Line Defenders.
Colombia, which has signed the Escazu treaty, was the
deadliest country for land rights activists and environmentalists last year,
according to a 2020 report by advocacy group
Global Witness.
It found 64 land rights activists were killed in Colombia
last year — up from 25 in 2018 — the highest level Global Witness has ever
recorded in the country.
Honduras, which has not yet signed the Escazu pact, is
another hotspot for violence, where in one recent attack in December masked men
with guns and machetes gunned down an environmentalist activist in front of his
family.
Zero tolerance
The treaty orders countries to set up bodies to monitor,
report and ensure new rules are adhered to, and specifies the rights of
environmentalists, including their right to freedom of expression, free
movement and peaceful assembly.
Boyd said much of the conflict that places environmentalists
in danger is driven by disagreements over projects led by extractive industries
and failing to consult communities about what happens on their lands.
For the treaty to work in practice, governments and
companies must recognize the right of indigenous people to decide what happens
on their lands and to be property informed and consulted about projects to stem
violence, he said.
“That straightforward step would actually prevent a lot of
the conflicts that are leading to peoples’ lives being placed in jeopardy,” he
said.
Government commitment to ensure adequate resources and
changes in corporate values will also be key, said Marina Comandulli,
campaigner at advocacy group Global Witness.
“(It will only work) if it is properly funded, if every
country in the region commits to implementing it, and if big companies start
putting people and planet first,” she said, adding that attitudes must shift,
too.
“Defenders are routinely threatened, criminalized and killed
in Latin America and the Caribbean. Often, that violence is linked to corporate
activity, and governments have been complicit in perpetrating it,” she said.
“Defenders are central in the fight against the climate
crisis ... we need a zero-tolerance approach to violence and to threats.”
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