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Argentina became the tenth country to ratify the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, better known as the Escazú Agreement.
As reported by the trans-Andean newspaper The nation, the bill, which had been approved on August 13 in the Argentine Senate, was ratified this Friday by an overwhelming majority in the Chamber of Deputies with 240 votes in favor, 4 against and 2 abstentions. In this way, the treaty signed by 23 of the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean was one step away from materializing, however, it has not yet entered into force since it needs the ratification of one more country.
He Argentine Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Juan Cabandié, He indicated through Twitter that the ratification of the international instrument was “a pending debt” in access to rights in environmental matters.
“With Escazú, as happened with the climate change law, we comply with a very fair and growing demand from society and from young people in particular,” he said.
So far, only ten of the 23 countries that signed the Escazú Agreement have ratified it. They are Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay and Argentina.
The news obviously transcended borders. “Congratulations to Argentina the 10th country in ratifying the agreement. ashamed that the country that could have been on the 11th, Chile, came down with absurd and fanciful excuses after having promoted the agreement instead of celebrating that with this ratification it would come into force, “said the former Minister of the Environment of the Government of Michelle Bachelet, Marcelo Mena.
For his part, Alex Muñoz Wilson, National Geographic Pristine Director for Latin America, commented that “Argentina has just ratified the Agreement on #Escazu. A treaty that strengthens the protection of the environment through greater transparency, political participation and access to justice. But here they say that “it is not convenient for Chile.”
Escazú has been described as the first major environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean, but the Chilean government reported this week that it will refuse to ratify it.
Let us remember that both the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Ministry of Environment argued that the treaty was rejected for including “ambiguities” in some norms that “would prevail over internal legislation”, causing legal confusion and exposing them to possible international demands.
On September 8, the head of the Minrel, Andrés Allamand, announced that the agreement represented an “inconvenience for Chile.” And, this Tuesday, through a joint address by Allamand himself and the Minister of the Environment, Carolina Schmidt, the reasons for the final decision were fully developed.
For example, the ministerial portfolios indicated that the fact that the rights of environmental defenders are recognized would grant “a different status to that of other human rights groups, thus affecting equality before the law.”
The analysis added that the agreement does not define its principles and that this causes “an interpretive problem.”
Despite the government’s rejection, President Sebastián Piñera assured that Chile is “fully committed” to climate change before the United Nations Assembly.
It is worth mentioning that the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean was adopted on March 4, 2018 in Escazú, Costa Rica, therefore, it is popularly known by that name. And tomorrow, September 26, 2020, the period for the Agreement to be signed by other countries closes. Afterwards, the signature will continue to be possible, but through a different mechanism by which countries sign and ratify the Agreement in one step at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
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