The Escazú Agreement is highlighted at the Second Uruguayan Congress of Environmental Law

At the Second Uruguayan Congress of Environmental Law, organized by the National Directorate of Environment (DINAMA) of the Ministry of Housing, Land Planning and Environment, the Center for Environmental Law (CDA-Uruguay) of the Faculty of Law (University of the Republic), and the Commission on Environmental Law of the Bar Association of Uruguay, was held in Montevideo on 14 and 15 May 2019.

Also present at the event were representatives of the Judiciary, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Faculty of Law of the University of the Republic, the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Uruguay, the Faculty of Law of the University of Montevideo and the Faculty of Law of the University CLAEH. The event was supported by ECLAC and UN Environment.

To conclude the event, the Congress adopted a declaration on environmental rights, in which it declared the centrality of the rights of access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters for environmental law and it called for the early parliamentary adoption of the Escazú Agreement, currently being considered by the House of Representatives of the Legislative Power of Uruguay.

Furthermore, on 16 May 2019, the seminar “The Escazú Agreement and environmental democracy: Environment, Society and State”, organized by the Ministry of Housing, Land Planning and Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Technical Secretariat of the Escazú Agreement, was held. In the latter, the relevance and main contents of the Escazú Agreement were underscored as well as the human rights agenda and its new dimensions related to the environment. The ratification and implementation of the regional agreement was likewise discussed.