The Caribbean Dialogues on a Rights-based Framework for Reparatory Environmental Democracy (RRED Framework) is a consultative process aimed at developing the RRED Framework as a tool for environmental and climate justice and the elimination of sacrifice zones in the Caribbean. This staging of the Caribbean Dialogues will address the protection of environmental rights defenders as one of the core elements of the RRED Framework.

Environmental rights defenders play a critical role in protecting the environment and taking action against the systems and practices that lead to the creation of sacrifice zones. It is therefore crucial to acknowledge and amplify their efforts through recognizing their rights and promoting a safe and enabling environment for them to do their work. Yet, around the world, environmental rights defenders face significant obstacles, challenges, threats, and sometimes even death, on account of their work. This situation is exacerbated by the systematic exclusion of environmental rights defenders from participation in environmental decision-making processes, access to environmental information, and access to justice in cases of harm.

This event will bring together environmental rights defenders from the Caribbean to discuss their work in the region’s sacrifice zones and the specific risks and challenges they face. This event will also discuss human rights standards for the protection of environmental rights defenders, with a focus on the Escazú Agreement – the first legally binding instrument in the world to include provisions on environmental rights defenders and the first environmental agreement adopted in Latin America and the Caribbean. This discussion coincides with the Second Annual Forum on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will take place 26-28 September 2023, in Panama.

Speakers

1. Immaculata Casimero, South Rupununi District Council, Guyana
2. Emily DeCou, Amplify Caribbean, Cayman
3. Jackie Frank, Save Barbuda, Barbuda
4. Kestonard Gordon, Friends of the Rio Cobre, Jamaica
5. Akilah Jaramogi, Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project, Trinidad and Tobago
6. Pierre Louis, Tet Kole, Haiti
7. Simone Mangal-Joly, Citizen advocate, Guyana
8. Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, Jamaica Environment Trust, Jamaica