{"id":14165,"date":"2021-09-07T15:36:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T14:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/?p=14165"},"modified":"2023-08-15T19:46:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T18:46:54","slug":"colombias-reluctance-to-ratify-the-escazu-agreement-leaves-environmental-and-human-rights-defenders-unprotected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/?p=14165","title":{"rendered":"Colombia\u2019s reluctance to ratify the Escaz\u00fa Agreement leaves environmental and human rights defenders unprotected"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Natalia Urzola<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, Colombia has praised itself as an environmentally friendly country: ranging from a vast number of environment-related laws<\/a> and groundbreaking fundamental and constitutional rights aiming to protect the environment (see art. 79<\/a> and 80<\/a> of the Colombian Constitution), to progressive judicial decisions (see Atrato River<\/em><\/a> and Future Generations<\/em><\/a>) and special environmental protection procedures (see tutela<\/em><\/a> and acciones populares<\/em><\/a>), the country could be considered environmentally conscious. Moreover, Colombia has two long-standing systems regarding environmental and human rights defenders (EHRD): the National Protection Unit<\/a> (NPU), which provides protection schemes to EHRD, and the Early Warning System<\/a> (EWS), built to guarantee rapid responses through the National Ombudsman\u2019s Office located throughout the country, along with other more recent mechanisms which includes the National Commission of Security Guarantees<\/a>, a body that designs and implements the national public and criminal policies regarding EHRD\u2019s killings. However, the country is also (in)famous for being one of the deadliest places for EHRD. According to the latest Global Witness report<\/a> (2020), Colombia experienced 64 killings in 2019 alone -more than anywhere else in the world-, and an appalling 30% of all the killings reported globally. In 2020, of the 331 reported killings worldwide examined in a recent Front Line Defenders report<\/a>, it is estimated that 177 occurred in Colombia. Violence continues to rise, despite the peacebuilding process that started in 2016 with the Peace Accords signed<\/a> with the oldest guerrilla group in the country, FARC-EP. Hence, this blog post asks: could the Escaz\u00fa Agreement contribute to strengthening environmental democracy and protecting EHRD in Colombia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombia\u2019s legal framework fails to protect EHRD\u2019s work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombia\u2019s legal framework has proven insufficient to protect EHRD. The NPU and the EWS have been relevant in advancing some protection of EHRD, but this protection has fallen short. The continued rise<\/a> in killings and threats EHRD have experienced shows the inadequacy of the existing legal framework. Indepaz, a non-governmental organization that works on peace and development-related issues, recently reported<\/a> that approximately 71% of EHRD victims of threats are peasants, Indigenous, Afro-descendants and members of environmental organizations. Furthermore, the novel coronavirus worsened<\/a> EHRD\u2019s situation, when lockdown measures made it difficult<\/a> for them to seek protection and safely relocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As highlighted by a recent Human Rights Watch<\/a> report, the NPU provides individual and collective protection schemes in response to reported threats, leaving unprotected those who are not able to report to the corresponding authorities either due to their remote location or because of the threat in and of itself. Similarly, not all EHRD receive threats, therefore they remain unable to access the protection provided by this particular system. Moreover, NPU\u2019s budget is limited<\/a>, which further adds to the poor implementation of this system in Colombia. As per the EWS, the HRW report<\/a> found that although designed to provide rapid responses to possible potential abuses, the authorities charged with actually acting on preventing those abuses often fail to do so, or do it in an insubstantial way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, other mechanisms in place have only been superficially promoted<\/a> with serious shortcomings: (i) proliferation and diffusion of resources, (ii) slow implementation and (iii) lack of clarity regarding available procedures, to name a few. Government\u2019s failure<\/a> to periodically convene the National Commission of Security Guarantees (designed to create policies to dismantle armed groups that target EHRD) and the high impunity<\/a> levels surrounding criminal procedures of these killings are just two examples of the inadequacy of the existing legal framework in protecting EHRD\u2019s work. Furthermore, Colombia\u2019s government has used<\/a> the existence of these mechanisms as an argument to support their negative attitude towards the Escaz\u00fa Agreement. Despite having initially signed<\/a> the Agreement, Colombia has not fulfilled the ratification process and does not seem to be willing to do it anytime soon. The last legislative period ended without a decision to ratify it and at the time this post was written, the draft had not been submitted for new discussion. Moreover, along with members<\/a> of the Colombian Congress, the government claims that the country\u2019s legal framework is robust enough to protect EHRD and the environment, and that ratifying this Agreement is only redundant. However, reality shows us otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Escaz\u00fa Agreement as an avenue to protect EHRD\u2019s work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Escaz\u00fa Agreement is groundbreaking. As an endorsement of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, the Agreement aims at applying three main pillars: information, participation and justice (L\u00f3pez-Cubillos et al., 2021<\/a>). It also aims at strengthening environmental democracy by fostering cooperation and capacity-building. More importantly, it mandates the protection of environmental defenders. Article 9<\/a> of the Agreement sets forth three directives to ensure EHRD\u2019s protection. The first mandate invites States to guarantee a safe and enabling environment so EHRD can act free from threats and insecurity. The second asks States to take adequate and effective measures to recognize, promote and protect EHRD\u2019s rights, including access rights. The third encourages States to take appropriate, effective and timely measures to prevent and punish attacks, threats and intimidations of EHRD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being the first legally binding instrument that targets the protection of EHRD, the Escaz\u00fa Agreement could go a long way. By providing a clear framework of what is needed to ensure EHRD\u2019s protection and giving legitimacy<\/a> to the work they do, it could pave the way for States to implement truly effective mechanisms. In tandem with article 10 and the overarching cooperation principle, national and international legal support can play a key role in protecting EHRD by providing resources, knowledge and overall assistance (L\u00f3pez-Cubillos et al., 2021). Thus, the Escaz\u00fa Agreement not only provides recognition and content to EHRD\u2019s rights, but also mechanisms for regional cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protecting EHRD in Colombia: a matter of quality, not quantity<\/strong>             <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombia already has a significant number of laws aiming to protect EHRD. But all have proven insufficient. National protocols and frameworks have failed to protect the lives and work of EHRD (L\u00f3pez-Cubillos et al., 2021). Ratification of the Escaz\u00fa Agreement will offer the support countries like Colombia need to make the necessary legal reforms to truly protect EHRD. The Agreement is based on the cooperation principle, as well as that of permanent sovereignty over natural resources (art. 3). It is not meant to interfere in the country\u2019s sovereignty, rather to promote information exchange in order to build capacity among the region. More importantly, it recognizes -in a legally binding instrument- EHRD\u2019s work as vital for environmental democracy. Colombian Constitution does not explicitly include a right to defend human rights<\/a>, which could strengthen EHRD\u2019s protection while acknowledging their crucial role in protecting the rule of law. Ratifying the Escaz\u00fa Agreement could help achieve that by strengthening judicial and investigative capacities through mechanisms such as administrative appeals and challenges to decisions involving information, participation and decision-making in environmental matters, mechanisms to execute and enforce judicial decisions, measures to minimize barriers to exercise the right of access to justice, means to publicize and disseminate the process for accessing justice, as well as judicial and administrative decisions, and establishing support mechanisms for groups in vulnerable situation, such as EHRD (art. 8). Likewise, it will allow EHRD to participate meaningfully in decision-making processes (L\u00f3pez-Cubillos et al., 2021). Sadly, that does not seem to be happening anytime soon<\/a>, since the ordinary legislative period ended last June and no decision was made, leaving the country\u2019s EHRD further u<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Natalia Urzola For many years, Colombia has praised itself as an environmentally friendly country: ranging from a vast number of environment-related laws and groundbreaking fundamental and constitutional rights aiming to protect the environment (see art. 79 and 80 of the Colombian Constitution), to progressive judicial decisions (see Atrato River and Future Generations) and special […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":14166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"wp-custom-template-posts","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[420],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14168,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14165\/revisions\/14168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnhre.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}