Concerns regarding environmental human rights defenders protection in the Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG)

To: Parties to the Escazú Agreement

Subject: Concerns regarding environmental human rights defenders protection in the Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) - UN Climate Conference, Azerbaijan, November 2024

19 November 2024

Distinguished representatives,

Following the previous letter on public participation at the UN Climate Conference in Baku, members of the Human Rights and Climate Change Working Group—a cross-constituency group advocating for the integration of human rights into climate action—wish to raise your attention to the opportunity provided by the Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG), which is currently under negotiation at COP29, to contribute to the effective protection of environmental human rights defenders.

In 2014, the Conference of the Parties (COP) established the Lima on Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) (Decision 18/CP.20) to promote and ensure gender-responsive climate policy and action. This program and its respective Gender Action Plan (GAP) were renewed at COP25 (Decision 3/CP.25). At COP28, Parties agreed to initiate the final review of the Enhanced LWPG and its GAP at the sixtieth session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 60) in June 2024, with the review set to conclude during the ongoing negotiations at COP29.

The LWPG represents a critical opportunity to include commitments to the elimination, prevention, and response to discrimination and violence, including gender-based violence, against women environmental human rights defenders, and to ensure comprehensive protection and support for women advocating for environmental rights, including in the context of the climate crisis. Under international human rights law, States have the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of all, including of women environmental human rights defenders and are responsible for the creation and maintenance of a safe and enabling environment for them to do their work. However, during the negotiations at COP29, references to human rights—including language addressing violence against women environmental defenders and land tenure activists—are at risk of being deleted after having been repeatedly contested by some Parties.

Environmental Human Rights Defenders (EHRDs) are the driving force in advocating for urgent actions to address the triple planetary crisis we are facing. However, they are paying a heavy price for their leadership and consistently face abuse, harassment, defamation and violations of their rights to, inter alia, life, health, bodily autonomy and freedom from torture, inhuman, cruel and degrading treatments as well as reprisals (see A/HRC/40/60 by former UNSR on HRDs Michel Forst). Global Witness reports that at least 1,390 environmental defenders were killed between 2015, the adoption of the Paris Agreement, and December 2022. According to the 2024 Alliance for Land, Indigenous, and Environmental Defenders (ALLIED) report, environmental defenders are further increasingly targeted with harassment, smear campaigns, criminalization, and other forms of violence. Women environmental human rights defenders (WEHRDs), many of whom are Indigenous Peoples and people of African descent, face gender-specific challenges and violence. They are targeted not only as defenders of rights, land and natural resources but also as women defying discriminatory societal gender norms. These threats include gender-based violence, assault, threats to their families, defamation campaigns, and other forms of gender-based intimidation, offline and online, to silence their voices and undermine their work.

To effectively respond to the unique challenges faced by this group of defenders, it is essential to provide stronger support, increase recognition of their work, and develop protection mechanisms specifically designed to address their needs at local and international levels.

Multilateral environmental agreements have already recognized the role of environmental human rights defenders in access rights and Biodiversity:

In April this year, parties to the Escazu Agreement adopted an action plan for environmental human rights defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 2021, the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention established a rapid response mechanism for the protection of environmental defenders (decision VII/9), Mr. Michel Forst currently serving as the first holder of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders to strengthen the implementation of these protections.
The UN Human Rights Council adopted in 2019 a resolution recognizing the contribution of environmental human rights defenders to the enjoyment of human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development (HRC Resolution 40/11). The resolution urges States to “develop and appropriately resource protection initiatives for human rights defenders, (...) taking into account the intersectional dimensions of violations and abuses against women human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, children, persons belonging to minorities, and rural and marginalized communities”.
In recognition of the gender-specific challenges they face, the UN General Assembly furthermore adopted a landmark resolution on the protection of women human rights defenders.

Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognized the role of WEHRDs by including Target 22 on participation and access to justice, with an explicit reference to the protection of environmental human rights defenders in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. According to the guidance provided by the CBD secretariat, the full protection that Target 22 includes "refers to measures that parties can take to safeguard individuals or groups who work to protect the environment, advocate for environmental justice, and defend the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities." and more recently during CBD COP 16 parties adopted a decision on marine biodiversity that included language on ensuring the full protection of environmental human rights defenders.

The UNFCCC must follow the lead of the CBD and the Lima Work Programme presents a key opportunity to do so. The gender and climate change decision must reaffirm and recognize the importance and legitimacy of WEHRDs, their work, and their rights by maintaining the language to monitor and address the violence against women's environmental human rights defenders.

We call on all Parties to the Escazú Agreement to take steps to align the UNFCCC to other environmental and human rights agreements; as to ensure sound protection of those people who are at the frontline of environmental protection and climate action.

We remain at your disposal if you wish any further information.