Representatives of Brazil’s government, the National Congress and civil society organizations filled the WWF-Brazil auditorium on Thursday April 13, in Brasília, for the launch of the Escazú Brasil Movement. The objective of the coalition, which already has 27 members, including CIPÓ, is to push for Brazil’s ratification of the first legally binding treaty on the environment and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Deputy Executive Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, Mauro Pires, stated that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will soon send the text to Brazil’s Congress, for approval and subsequent ratification. “It is a necessary measure to guarantee access to information and that the environmental policy is developed with transparency and participation of all interested parties”.
Pires participated in the opening panel of the event “Brazil in the Escazú Agreement”, alongside the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara. “Brazil continues to be the country with one of the highest numbers of murder against human rights and environmental defenders and, among them, are the indigenous peoples”, highlighted the minister.
“There are an increasing number of people who are killed simply for fighting for their right to land. This is our life we are talking about”, she added. Guajajara recalled that the treaty seeks to promote access to information and justice in environmental matters. “And it is the first treaty to provide protection mechanisms for environmental defenders”.
For federal congresswoman Duda Salabert (PDT-MG), member of the Environmentalist Parliamentary Front, Escazú is a fundamental agenda to achieve a sovereign Brazil. “We have an urgent need to ratify the agreement. There is a big impasse in Parliament and we want to build forces to overcome this impasse”, she said.
Ratification is essential for the fight against environmental and climate racism
According to Plataforma CIPÓ’s researcher, Gabrielle Alves, the treaty’s ratification is essential for the fight against environmental and climate racism. “We [Brazilians] have a great opportunity to learn from what went wrong in other countries that have already ratified the agreement and act not to repeat the same mistakes”, she stated.
Alves was one of the event’s speakers: “Either we save ourselves together or we sink apart”, she said, highlighting how Escazú is an interdisciplinary agreement, which dialogues not only with the rights of indigenous peoples, but also with those of the black population.
CIPÓ covered the event in real time on Twitter.
