Public statement addressed to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the Congress of the Republic.
On the International Mother Earth Day, we, civil society organizations and indigenous peoples' organizations from Peru declare the following:
1. International Mother Earth Day aims to remind all people that the Earth and its ecosystems sustain our lives, and that it also has needs and cycles of its own. It also highlights our responsibility to promote a lifestyle in harmony with nature, which today is affected by the climate crisis and the socioeconomic and political model that sustains it. The climate crisis also demands a paradigm shift with a ecocentric vision that recognizes Mother Nature and all forms of life as subjects of rights.
2. That, only during the period of the COVID-19 health emergency in Peru, seven human rights defenders, who confronted illegal mining, drug trafficking, timber trafficking and land trafficking, were murdered. Thus, our country has been classified by Global Witness as one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America to defend the environment. The environmental defenders demanded attention from the Peruvian State, through personal guarantees and the activation of protocols to ensure their safety, but they didn’t received timely and effective protection from State agencies. Their deaths remain unpunished.
3. In this sense, the signatory organizations demand the adequate and effective implementation of the “Protocol to Guarantee the Protection of Human Rights Defenders”, as well as the approval of an” Intersectoral Mechanism”, with its own budget, that ensures the protection of human rights defenders. This last instrument is indispensable to establish concrete responsibilities in the different State sectors that should oversee prevention and protection measures as well as the access to justice for human rights and environmental defenders.
4. We also demand the prompt ratification of the Escazú Agreement: the regional agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, signed by Peru on September 27, 2018. The ratification of the agreement is of vital importance because it will allow, in a coherent manner, to strengthen the normative, institutional and management capacities of the Peruvian State on the protection of environmental defenders. Today the Escazú Agreement comes into effect. This agreement was shelved by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress in October 2020, blocking its implementation in the country.
5. Finally, it is important to point out that the economic reactivation programs proposed by the State due to the pandemic must consider the Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. This principle states that the best way to deal with environmental issues is through participatory processes with interested citizens at the appropriate level. This means that, as Peruvians, we have the right and the duty to be part of environmental discussions because they are completely linked to our well-being and ways of life. This pandemic is palpable proof of the urgency to adequately address existing environmental problems, which are worsening in different parts of our planet. For this reason, the participation of the whole society is required in the construction of a just and sustainable culture, based on the respect and understanding of the limits of Mother Earth.
Signatures:
- Alianza Cooperativista Nacional, A.C.
- AMAS Marianistas.
- ANPE-PERU.
- APRODEH.
- ASAMBLEA DE DELEGADOS DE ORGANIZACIONES DE LA SOCIEDAD CIVIL DE LAMBAYEQUE - ADOSCIL.
- Asociación Casa Betania.
- Asociación Civil Centro de Cultura Popular Labor.
- Asociación Civil Japiqay, Memoria y Ciudadanía.
- Asociación de Huaranchalinos.
- Asociación de Jóvenes Indígenas Amazónicos y Colonos del Megantoni.
- Asociación Ecológica Cieneguilla.
- Asociación por la Defensa de los Derechos Qantu - ADEQ.
- Asociación Proyecto Amigo.
- Asociación Regional de Organizaciones de Desarrollo de La Libertad.
- Asociacion Servicios Ecosistémicos Peru.
- Asociación Servicios Educativos Rurales.
- Ayacucho, a Favor de Escazú.
- Ayne Perú Trinitarias.
- CADEP JOSE MARIA ARGUEDAS.
- Caritas Abancay.
- Casa de Promoción Virgen del Carmen.
- CEAAL Perú.
- CEDAL-Centro de Derechos y Desarrollo.
- CEDENMA.
- Centro Amazónico de Antropología y Aplicación Práctica - CAAAP.
- CENTRO DE DESARROLLO AGROPECUARIO.
- Centro de Desarrollo Andino Sisay.
- Centro de Investigación y Formación Intercultural "Yachay".
- Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristan.
- Centro Loyola Ayacucho.
- CENTRO PARA EL DESARROLLO DEL INDÍGENA AMAZÓNICO - CEDIA.
- Chaskiedu.
- CODESIN S.A.C.
- Colectiva 8 M.
- Comisión de Ecología y Cuidado de la Creación de la Diócesis de Lurín.
- Comisión de Justicia Social -Chimbote.
- Comisión de Solidaridad Desarrollo y Justicia COSDEJ.
- Comisión Episcopal de Acción Social - CEAS.
- Comunidad Santo Espíritu.
- Congregación de Misioneros Hijos del Inmaculado Corazón de María.
- CooperAcción.
- CPM Micaela Bastidas.
- Cuencas Sagradas.
- Demus Estudio Para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer.
- Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR).
- Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras.
- Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente - DHUMA.
- Earthrights International.
- Eco Amigos de Picota.
- Ekosinergia.
- Epicentro Trujillo.
- Equipos docentes Perú.
- Environmental Investigation Agency - EIA (Agencia de Investigación Ambiental).
- Federación de Comunidades Nativas de Ucayali y Afluentes.
- FEMOCCPAALM.
- FENMUCARINAP-SM.
- Foro Ciudades para la Vida.
- Forest People Programme.
- FOVIDA.
- FUNDACIÓN ECUMÉNICA PARA EL DESARROLLO Y LA PAZ - FEDEPAZ.
- Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.
- GRUFIDES.
- Grupo Género y Economía.
- Hermanas de la Caridad.
- Hermanas pequeñas apostoles de la redención.
- HH. JOSEFINAS DE LA SANTÍSIMA TRINIDAD-PAITA,PERU.
- I. E. 0700 SAN JUAN BAUTISTA.
- I.E Germán Tejada Vela.
- IDPA.
- Illa, centro de educación y comunicación.
- INSTITUTO NATURA.
- Instituto de Defensa Legal.
- INSTITUTO DE ESTUDIOS DE LAS CULTURAS ANDINAS, IDECA.
- Instituto de la Bienaventurada Virgen María Patricia McLaughlin.
- Instituto Natura.
- Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Paz Amazonica.
- INSTITUTO PRO DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE.
- IRI MOYOBAMBA.
- Juventud Obrera Cristiana - JOC PERÚ.
- Kinder Radio Manuelito.
- La Caracola, cooperativa social.
- Movimiento Católico por el Clima- Capítulo peruano.
- Movimiento de Trabajadores y Campesinos.
- Movimiento Manuela Ramos.
- Munay.
- Nature Services Peru.
- O. S. B. Maria Parado de Bellido.
- ONAMIAP.
- ORGANIZACION ECOLÓGICA "ADRIAN RAMIREZ QUISPE".
- Oxfam.
- Pastoral de la Tierra del Vicariato Apostólico de Yurimaguas.
- PASTORAL MOVILIDAD HUMANA TRUJILLO.
- Pastoral Social Prelatura de Ayaviri.
- Paz y Esperanza.
- Plataforma para la Gobernanza Responsable de la Tierra.
- Proética- Capítulo Peruano de Transparencia Internacional.
- Red Infanto Juvenil Por el Buen Vivir.
- Red Muqui.
- Red Peruana de Comercio Justo y Consumo Ético.
- Red Peruana por una Globalización con Equidad (RedGE).
- Red Regional Agua, Desarrollo y Democracia.
- Red Uniendo Manos Perú.
- Religiosa Terciarias Trinitarias.
- Rojana.
- SEDYS Trujillo.
- Separ.
- Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental - SPDA.
- Sociedad Peruana de Ecodesarrollo - SPDE.
- TierrActiva Perú.
- Voluntarios Bosques.
- Wakán Guayusa.
- Warmi Wasi.