Public consultation: Assessment of the situation of persons, groups and organisations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters

Decision III/2 of COP3 adopted the Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean for 2024 and established, under Axis A on ‘Knowledge Generation’, Action No. 1, which provides for the preparation of “an assessment of the situation of individuals, groups and organisations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters in the States Parties”.

This assessment must consider, “in accordance with the availability of data”, amongst other aspects: the “number of victims or violations and the different types of violations”; the “international and national instruments and mechanisms relating to prevention, protection and sanctions”; and the “existing practices and other community-based experiences and initiatives, as well as self-protection strategies implemented by those who promote and defend human rights in environmental matters”.

Furthermore, the Action Plan stipulates that the assessment must take into account the information provided by the States Parties and other key stakeholders and draw conclusions on the matter.

The Ad Hoc Working Group coordinators, with support from the Secretariat, have developed a proposal for the methodological design of the regional assessment, including a participatory data-collection mechanism and process planning. This study will combine multiple sources and mechanisms to generate data and address the three research objectives.

Consequently, the Secretariat has launched a participatory process to prepare the assessment, to gather relevant input from States Parties, the public and other key stakeholders on existing gaps and challenges, as well as on progress made in existing regulatory frameworks, instruments, policies, initiatives and practices aimed at implementing Article 9 of the Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Members of the public are invited to complete this survey. The deadline for completing the online questionnaire is 18 October at 23:59 (GMT -4).

You can download a copy of the questionnaire here. However, forms submitted in writing, vía e-mail, or outside the platform will not be accepted.

• Anyone from the public who has registered on the MPR platform using their email address may participate.
• To complete the survey, you will need to log in using your email address; this will allow you to save your answers and resume the survey at a later time.
• If you have not yet registered on the platform, you can do so by visiting https://publicoescazu.cepal.org/en/
• Responses will be completely anonymous and will not be linked to your account’s personal data. This means that your personal account information will not be stored alongside your survey responses.
• Responses collected via this tool will be managed directly by the Secretariat’s team, and their confidentiality will be ensured in order to protect the integrity of the participants.