Approval of First Law to Protect Environmental Defenders on Hold

In recent years, human rights defenders, also known as environmental defenders, have been victims of various attacks and threats. Unfortunately, several of them have been murdered, and others have had to live in hiding or migrate to other places in order to protect their lives and those of their families.

In this context, it is important that the State step up its work to protect these people who are fighting for their territories and for the conservation of biodiversity. Although protection mechanisms exist, the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA) considers that it is necessary to incorporate a law to protect human rights defenders, since it is essential to make it clear that the obligation to guarantee a safe and favorable environment for the full exercise of the right to defend human rights is not only the responsibility of a sector of the executive branch, but of the State in general.

Currently, there are three legislative reports in Congress aimed at the approval of this law, and they are ready to be debated in the plenary. For this reason, the SPDA prepared the Analysis of the Legislative Reports issued by the Congress of the Republic on bills to protect human rights defenders, a document that exposes and highlights the opportunities of these proposals.

This analysis was presented during the II National Meeting of Indigenous Human Rights Defenders, held at the premises of the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (Aidesep), in the city of Lima.

"For the SPDA, it is important to transfer to Aidesep our legal proposals for state institutions to protect human rights defenders. We know that, as a national Amazonian indigenous organization, they have been strengthening their self-protection mechanisms, without neglecting a proactive dialogue about state mechanisms," explained Valeska Ruiz, legal advisor of the Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples Program of the SPDA.

"The proposals that we put forward in the report range from the need for a law with a broad scope, in line with the human rights standards that the United Nations has developed for the protection of defenders, the creation of a governing body, the establishment of preventive proposals, a mechanism for accountability and adequate reparations for indigenous peoples, among other needs that must be covered", added Valeska Ruiz.

The II National Meeting of Indigenous Defenders was held as part of the 44th anniversary of Aidesep and was held in response to the context of rights violations and threats to life currently faced by those who defend the ancestral territories of indigenous peoples.

The event was attended by leaders who spent the day discussing and reflecting on the articulation of efforts to protect defenders from the local to the national level, as well as sharing experiences in legal cases and other areas of interest in this field.

[Check out our multimedia special on environmental defenders].

About the legislative reports

The SPDA's analysis covers the five bills presented in the Congress of the Republic in the last three years. Of these, only two reached the commission review stage: Bill 4686/2022-PE, which recognizes and protects environmental rights defenders; and Bill 2069-2021-PE, on protection and assistance to community or indigenous leaders at risk.

The Commission of Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology approved both proposals: the first was called the "Law for the Protection of Environmental Rights Defenders" and the second as the "Law for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders".

Meanwhile, the Justice and Human Rights Commission approved the legislative report on both bills, calling it the "Law for the Protection of Environmental Rights Defenders".

Fact: Review and download the SPDA document at this link.