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Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean

Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean - Escazú Agreement

The Escazú Agreement is a legal instrument for environmental protection, but it is also a human rights treaty. Its main beneficiaries are the people of the Latin American and Caribbean region, particularly the most vulnerable groups and communities. It aims to ensure the right of all persons to have access to information in a timely and appropriate manner, to participate significantly in making the decisions that affect their lives and their environment, and to access justice when those rights have been infringed. The treaty recognizes the rights of all individuals, provides measures to facilitate their exercise and, most importantly, establishes mechanisms to render them effective.

The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America  and the Caribbean (Escazú Agreement) was adopted on 4 March 2018 at Escazú, Costa Rica.

It is the only binding agreement stemming from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the first regional environmental agreement of Latin America and the Caribbean and the first in the world containing specific provisions on environmental human rights defenders. 

The Regional Agreement is open to the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The period for signature took place between 27 September 2018 and 26 September 2020 at United Nations headquarters in New York. After meeting the conditions set out under article 22, the Agreement entered into force on 22 April 2021.

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This description was excerpted from repositorio.cepal.org

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