The Colombian Congress approved in the last debate the Escazú regional agreementdeveloped by 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which seeks to protect the environment and its defenders, and facilitate access to public information on the subject.
“The Escazú International Treaty has been approved as law, which seeks to protect the environment and environmentalists. Congratulations to Congress and to Colombian society,” said President Gustavo Petro on Monday night.
The fact occurs after almost three years of transit in the Legislative and with the renewed impulse given by the governor’s majorities of the president.
The project was approved in the House of Representatives with 119 votes in favor and one against on Monday night. To be ratified, it remains for the Senate and the House to reconcile the two texts that were approved in independent discussions. President Petro will then be able to sign it into law and the Constitutional Court will review it as a last resort.
What does the agreement consist of?
The “Regional Agreement on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean” was adopted by 22 countries of the region in Escazú, Costa Rica, on March 4, 2018 .
According to the agreement, it seeks to improve “access to information, public participation and access to Justice in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Its purpose is to “guarantee the right of all people to have access to information in a timely and adequate manner, to participate in a meaningful way in the decisions that affect their lives and their environment and to access justice when these rights have been violated” , according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
It has only been ratified by 13 of the 24 countries that developed it. Colombia, if ratified, would become the fourteenth and would join other countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay, which have already approved it.
According to him report of the international organization Global Witness, Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries for environmental defenders, after Mexico. In 2021, at least 33 leaders were assassinated.
The approval in Colombia of the agreement, which originated in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), also received the approval of Juliette de Rivero, the representative in Colombia of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who On twitter remembered that its approval was one of the recent recommendations given to Colombia for the protection of environmental defenders and environmental institutions.
The agreement has also had strong critics, especially from the Democratic Center, which until a few months ago was the governing party of then President Iván Duque (2018-2022). During the vote in the last debate, the opposition withdrew in an act of protest.
The Petro government, the first leftist in the country, sets short-term goals to start the implementation of the Escazú agreement how to implement a strategy to support environmental defenders and strengthen citizen oversight.
[Con información de AP]
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