Explore VGGT - Human Rights

The objective of the present Agreement is 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, and the creation and strengthening of capacities and cooperation, contributing to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in a healthy environment and to sustainable development.

Each Party shall be guided by the following principles in implementing the present Agreement: (a) Principle of equality and principle of non-discrimination; (b) Principle of transparency and principle of accountability; (c) Principle of non-regression and principle of progressive realization; (d) Principle of good faith;

No provision in the present Agreement shall limit or repeal other more favourable rights and guarantees set forth, at present or in the future, in the legislation of a State Party or in any other international agreement to which a State is party, or prevent a State Party from granting broader access to environmental information, public participation in the environmental decisionmaking process and justice in environmental matters.

1. Each Party shall ensure the public’s right to participation and, for that purpose, commits to implement open and inclusive participation in environmental decision-making processes based on domestic and international normative frameworks. 2. Each Party shall guarantee mechanisms for the participation of the public in decision-making processes, revisions, reexaminations or updates with respect to projects and activities, and in other processes for granting environmental permits that have or may have a significant impact on the environment, including when they may affect health. 3. Each Party shall promote the participation of the public in decision-making processes, revisions, re-examinations or updates other than those referred to in paragraph 2 of the present article with respect to environmental matters of public interest, such as land-use planning, policies, strategies, plans, programmes, rules and regulations, which have or may have a significant impact on the environment. 4. Each Party shall adopt measures to ensure that the public can participate in the decision-making process from the early stages, so that due consideration can be given to the observations of the public, thus contributing to the process. To that effect, each Party shall provide the public with the necessary information in a clear, timely and comprehensive manner, to give effect to its right to participate in the decisionmaking process. 5. The public participation procedure will provide for reasonable timeframes that allow sufficient time to inform the public and for its effective participation. 6. The public shall be informed, through appropriate means, such as in writing, electronically, orally and by customary methods, and in an effective, comprehensible and timely manner, as a minimum, of the following: (a) the type or nature of the environmental decision under consideration and, where appropriate, in non-technical language; (b) the authority responsible for making the decision and other authorities and bodies involved; (c) the procedure foreseen for the participation of the public, including the date on which the procedure will begin and end, mechanisms for participation and, where applicable, the date and place of any public consultation or hearing; and (d) the public authorities involved from which additional information on the environmental decision under consideration can be requested and the procedure for requesting information. 7. The public’s right to participate in environmental decisionmaking processes shall include the opportunity to present observations through appropriate means available, according to the circumstances of the process. Before adopting the decision, the relevant public authority shall give due consideration to the outcome of the participation process. 8. Each Party shall ensure that, once a decision has been made, the public is informed in a timely manner thereof and of the grounds and reasons underlying the decision, including how the observations of the public have been taken into consideration. The decision and its basis shall be made public and be accessible. 9. The dissemination of the decisions resulting from environmental impact assessments and other environmental decision-making processes in which the public has participated shall be carried out through appropriate means, which may include written, electronic or oral means and customary methods, in an effective and prompt manner. The information disseminated shall include the established procedure to allow the public to take the relevant administrative and judicial actions. 10. Each Party shall establish conditions that are favourable to public participation in environmental decision-making processes and that are adapted to the social, economic, cultural, geographical and gender characteristics of the public. 11. When the primary language of the directly affected public is different to the official languages, the public authority shall ensure that means are provided to facilitate their understanding and participation. 12. Each Party shall promote, where appropriate and in accordance with domestic legislation, public participation in international forums and negotiations on environmental matters or with an environmental impact, in accordance with the procedural rules on participation of each forum. The participation of the public at the national level on matters of international environmental forums shall also be promoted, where appropriate. 13. Each Party shall encourage the establishment of appropriate spaces for consultation on environmental matters or the use of those that are already in existence in which various groups and sectors are able to participate. Each Party shall promote regard for local knowledge, dialogue and interaction of different views and knowledge, where appropriate. 14. The public authorities shall make efforts to identify and support persons or groups in vulnerable situations in order to engage them in an active, timely and effective manner in participation mechanisms. For these purposes, appropriate means and formats will be considered, in order to eliminate barriers to participation. 15. In the implementation of the present Agreement, each Party shall guarantee that its domestic legislation and international obligations in relation to the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities are observed. 16. The public authority shall make efforts to identify the public directly affected by the projects or activities that have or may have a significant impact on the environment and shall promote specific actions to facilitate their participation. 17. With respect to the environmental decision-making processes referred to in paragraph 2 of the present article, as a minimum, the following information shall be made public: (a) a description of the area of influence and physical and technical characteristics of the proposed project or activity; (b) a description of the main environmental impacts of the project or activity and, as appropriate, the cumulative environmental impact; (c) a description of the measures foreseen with respect to those impacts; (d) a summary of (a), (b) and (c) of the present paragraph in comprehensible, non-technical language; (e) the public reports and opinions of the involved entities addressed to the public authority related to the project or activity under consideration; (f) a description of the available technologies to be used and alternative locations for executing the project or activity subject to assessment, when the information is available; and (g) actions taken to monitor the implementation and results of environmental impact assessment measures.The aforementioned information shall be made available free of charge to the public in accordance with paragraph 17 of article 5 of the present Agreement.

The objective of the present Agreement is 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, and the creation and strengthening of capacities and cooperation, contributing to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in a healthy environment and to sustainable development.

No provision in the present Agreement shall limit or repeal other more favourable rights and guarantees set forth, at present or in the future, in the legislation of a State Party or in any other international agreement to which a State is party, or prevent a State Party from granting broader access to environmental information, public participation in the environmental decisionmaking process and justice in environmental matters.

1. Each Party shall guarantee the right of access to justice in environmental matters in accordance with the guarantees of due process. 2. Each Party shall ensure, in the framework of its domestic legislation, access to judicial and administrative mechanisms to challenge and appeal, with respect to substance and procedure: (a) any decision, action or omission related to the access to environmental information; (b) any decision, action or omission related to public participation in the decision-making process regarding environmental matters; and (c) any other decision, action or omission that affects or could affect the environment adversely or violate laws and regulations related to the environment. 3. To guarantee the right of access to justice in environmental matters, each Party shall have, considering its circumstances: (a) competent State entities with access to expertise in environmental matters; (b) effective, timely, public, transparent and impartial procedures that are not prohibitively expensive; (c) broad active legal standing in defence of the environment, in accordance with domestic legislation; (d) the possibility of ordering precautionary and interim measures, inter alia, to prevent, halt, mitigate or rehabilitate damage to the environment; (e) measures to facilitate the production of evidence of environmental damage, when appropriate and as applicable, such as the reversal of the burden of proof and the dynamic burden of proof; (f) mechanisms to execute and enforce judicial and administrative decisions in a timely manner; and (g) mechanisms for redress, where applicable, such as restitution to the condition prior to the damage, restoration, compensation or payment of a financial penalty, satisfaction, guarantees of non-repetition, assistance for affected persons and financial instruments to support redress. 4. To facilitate access to justice in environmental matters for the public, each Party shall establish: (a) measures to minimize or eliminate barriers to the exercise of the right of access to justice; (b) means to publicize the right of access to justice and the procedures to ensure its effectiveness; (c) mechanisms to systematize and disseminate judicial and administrative decisions, as appropriate; and (d) the use of interpretation or translation of languages other than the official languages when necessary for the exercise of that right. 5. In order to give effect to the right of access to justice, each Party shall meet the needs of persons or groups in vulnerable situations by establishing support mechanisms, including, as appropriate, free technical and legal assistance. 6. Each Party shall ensure that the judicial and administrative decisions adopted in environmental matters and their legal grounds are set out in writing. 7. Each Party shall promote, where appropriate, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in environmental matters, such as mediation, conciliation or other means that allow such disputes to be prevented or resolved.

3. Each Party shall also take appropriate, effective and timely measures to prevent, investigate and punish attacks, threats or intimidations that human rights defenders in environmental matters may suffer while exercising the rights set out in the present Agreement.

Each Party shall guarantee an enabling environment for the work of persons, associations, organizations or groups that promote environmental protection, by recognizing and protecting them.

Each Party shall guarantee a safe and enabling environment for persons, groups and organizations that promote and defend human rights in environmental matters, so that they are able to act free from threat, restriction and insecurity. 2. Each Party shall take adequate and effective measures to recognize, protect and promote all the rights of human rights defenders in environmental matters, including their right to life, personal integrity, freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and free movement, as well as their ability to exercise their access rights, taking into account its international obligations in the field of human rights, its constitutional principles and the basic concepts of its legal system. 3. Each Party shall also take appropriate, effective and timely measures to prevent, investigate and punish attacks, threats or intimidations that human rights defenders in environmental matters may suffer while exercising the rights set out in the present Agreement.