Open Letter to the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs on Escazú Agreement

Initiated by the NGO Human Rights Watch, the open letter was sent to Brazil’s Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, along with nine others within the Brazilian government.

The Escazú Agreement entered into force in April 2021, requiring states to prevent and investigate attacks against environmental defenders. The treaty has so far been signed by 25 nations in Latin and Central America, including Brazil - however, the country has not yet sent it to Congress for approval or to President Lula for ratification, needed to make the Agreement binding. 

According to our 2022 report, a Decade of Defiance, Brazil recorded the highest number of deaths of land and environment defenders in the world between 2012 and 2021, with 342 people killed. It was followed by Colombia, with 322 lethal attacks in total. Around a third of those murdered in Brazil were Indigenous or Afro-descendants, and more than 85% of killings took place within the Brazilian Amazon.

Read the letter

To: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira

Cc: Office of the President’s Chief of Staff, Rui Costa; Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva; Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, Silvio Almeida; Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara; Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino; Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro; Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira; Minister of the Office of the Comptroller-General, Vinicius Marques de Carvalho; Solicitor General, Jorge Messias.

Dear Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira,

The undersigned Brazilian and international civil society organizations and institutions are writing to strongly urge the government to submit the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters of Latin American and Caribbean Countries–also known as Escazu Agreement–to the National Congress for approval and later ratification by the president, and to mobilize public authorities in making all necessary efforts for a prompt conclusion of this process given the relevance of this Regional Agreement.

Ratifying the Escazu Agreement would signal Brazil’s willingness to cooperate regionally for the protection of the environment and environmental defenders, as well as to ensure that Brazilians have access to adequate environmental information that is relevant to the fulfilment and protection of their human rights.

As you know, the Escazú Agreement aims to guarantee the full and effective implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean of the rights of access to environmental information, public participation in the environmental decision-making process and access to justice in environmental matters. It is also the first binding agreement containing specific provisions on states’ commitments to ensure a safe environment to persons, groups and organizations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters. These provisions include adopting measures for investigating and punishing attacks, threats, and intimidation against them.

The Escazu standards of protection for environmental human rights defenders closely mirror the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and the framework principles set out by the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment in 2018.

For years, Indigenous groups and many civil society organizations have denounced the violence that goes hand in hand with environmental destruction in the Brazilian Amazon. More than 300 people have died in conflicts over the use of land and resources in Brazil’s Amazonian states in the last decade, according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), while many others have faced serious threats and other acts of violence and intimidation. To protect the forest, we need to protect its defenders.

Ratifying and implementing the Escazú Agreement would send a much-needed message to environmental defenders–and to the international community–that Brazil is serious about delivering on President Lula’s pledges to fight deforestation, defend the rights of forest peoples, and take a leading role in responding to the climate crisis. Moreover, it would strengthen the ability of defenders to participate in environmental decision-making processes and to continue fighting for the protection of the environment. For that to happen, we urge your office to immediately support the submission of the agreement by the Presidency to Congress, while building support for its approval.

We sincerely hope the Lula government’s stance on environment and human rights translates into renewed commitment by the Brazilian government to see the Escazú Agreement ratified and implemented across the region, including by participating with high-level officials–at least as an observer country–in the second meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Escazú Agreement (COP2) in April 2023 at Buenos Aires (Argentina) and by taking the necessary steps to become a state party.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Abong
Abraço Guarapiranga
Abraji - Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo
Ação Franciscana de Ecologia e Solidariedade
ActionAid
AMAR Associação de Defesa do Meio Ambiente de Araucária
Amazon Watch
Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira
Anistia Internacional Brasil
Aqualtune Lab
ARAYARA.org
Articulação Comboniana de Direitos Humanos
Articulação para o monitoramento dos Direitos Humanos no Brasil
ARTIGO 19 - Brasil e América do Sul
Associação Alternativa Terrazul
Associação Brasileira dos Membros do Ministério Público Ambiental (ABRAMPA)
Associação Data Labe
Associação Data Privacy Brasil de Pesquisa
Associação de Jovens Engajamundo
Associação de Preservação do Meio Ambiente e da Vida - Apremavi
Associação dos Amigos do Bosque dos Italianos
Associação dos Especialistas em Políticas Públicas do Estado de São Paulo - AEPPSP
Associação Fiquem Sabendo
Associação indígena Kaluani
Associação para a Gestão Socioambiental do Triângulo Mineiro
Associação turiwara
ASUL - Centro de estudos e articulação da cooperação Sul-Sul
CEAS - Centro de Estudos e Ação Social
CEERT
Centro de agricultura alternativa do Norte de Minas
Centro de Educação e Assessoria Popular
Centro de Promoção de Agentes de Transformação - CEPAT
Centro pela Justiça e o Direito Internacional – CEJIL
CIVICUS: World Alliance For Citizen Participation
Coalizão Brasil por Memória, Verdade, Justiça, Reparação e Democracia
Coding Rights
COESUS Coalizão Não Fracking Brasil, Pelo Clima, Água e Vida
Coletivo Digital
Coletivo Margarida Alves de Assessoria Popular
Comissão Arns de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos
Comissão de Direitos Humanos de Passo Fundo - CDHPF
Comissão Pastoral da Terra
Comitê Brasileiro de Defensoras e Defensores de Direitos Humanos
Comitê Goiano de Direitos Humanos Dom Tomás Balduino
Conectas Direitos Humanos
Conselho Indigenista Misdionario - Cimi
Construção Coletiva O Futuro Que Queremos
Criola
CTI - Centro de Trabalho Indigenista
Defensores do planeta
Espaço de Formação assessoria e Documentação
FAOR Fórum da Amazônia Oriental
FBOMS - Fórum Brasileiro de ONGs e Movimentos Sociais para Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente
FNPETI - Fórum Nacional de Prevenção e Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil
Forest Trends
Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública
Fórum de Direito de Acesso a Informações Públicas
Fórum de Direitos Humanos e da Terra MT
Frente Ampla em Defesa da Saúde de Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras
Front Line Defenders
Fundação Esquel Brasil.
Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica
Fundación Ciudadania Inteligente
Gambá - Grupo Ambientalista da Bahia
GESTA (Grupo de Estudos em Temáticas Ambientais da UFMG)
Girl Up Brasil
Global Witness
Greenpeace Brasil
Greve pelo Clima (Fridays for Future Brasil)
Human Rights Watch
Idec - Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor
Iepé - Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação Indígena
Iniciativa Direito a Memória e Justiça Racial
Instituto 5 Elementos - Educação para a Sustentabilidade
Instituto Aaron Swartz
Instituto Alana
Instituto Alziras
Instituto Ayika
Instituto Brasileiro de Analises Sociais e Economicas _ Ibase
Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV)
Instituto Clima de Eleiçao
Instituto Clima e Sociedade
Instituto Cordilheira
Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos (Inesc)
Instituto de Manejo e Certificação Florestal e Agrícola (IMAFLORA)
Instituto de Referência Negra Peregum
Instituto Democracia e Sustentabilidade (IDS)
Instituto Igarapé
Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil
Instituto Nupef
Instituto OPS
Instituto Physis - Cultura e Ambiente
Instituto Sociedade, População e Natureza
Instituto Socioambiental - ISA
Instituto Vladimir Herzog
IPAM - Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia
Justiça Global
Justiça nos Trilhos
Kurytiba Metropole
Laboratório de Políticas Públicas e Internet (LAPIN)
Libres - Liga Brasil de Responsabilidade Socioambiental
Maer Natura - Instituto de Estudos Ambientais
Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos - MNDH Brasil
NOSSAS
Núcleo Apostólico Bahia
Observatório do Clima
Observatório do Marajó
Observatório Indigenista
Observatório para qualidade da lei - Faculdade de Direito-UFMG
OCM Observatório do Carvão Mineral
OLMA - Observatório de Justiça Socioambiental Luciano Mendes de Almeida
Open Knowledge Brasil
OPG Observatório do Petróleo e Gás
Organização De Desenvolvimento Sustentável
PerifaLAB
Plataforma CIPÓ
Pólis - Instituto de Estudos, Formação e Assessoria em Políticas Sociais
Protection International Brasil e América do Sul
REBEA - Rede Brasileira de Educação Ambiental
Rede Cerrado
Rede de Cooperação Amazônica - RCA
Rede Eclesial Pan Amazônica REPAM- Brasil
Rede Fé, Paz e Clima
REDE GTA
Rede Igrejas e Mineração
Redes da Maré
RETPS - Rede pela Transparência e Participação Social
SARES - Serviço Amazônico de Ação, Reflexão, Estudos Socioamnientais
Seja Democracia | IMJA
Servidores Públicos Federais Aposentados
Sociedade Maranhense de Direitos Humanos
SOS Amazônia
SPVS - Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental
Terra de Direitos
TOXISPHERA Associação de Saúde Ambiental
Transparência Brasil
Transparência Internacional - Brasil
Uma Gota No Oceano
URI - Iniciativa das Religiões Unidas
Washington Brazil Office
We World GVC Onlus
WWF Brasil
350.org América Latina
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