Strengthening Protections Through the UN Human Rights System | Page 3 | Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) Skip to content Skip to navigation

Strengthening Protections Through the UN Human Rights System

We see it time and again. Industries spew toxic pollutants into the air. Fracking fouls water with poisonous chemicals. Large dams flood people out of their villages. Mines ruin farmland. People lose their health, their jobs, their access to water, even their homes. All of these events violate basic human rights protected by international law.

Enforcing human rights law provides another effective strategy for targeting problems caused by environmental degradation. The United Nations Human Rights System offers several mechanisms that AIDA uses to protect human rights—including the right to a healthy environment—in Latin America.

What AIDA is doing: 

  • Participating in the Universal Periodic Review by documenting human rights violations and government compliance with UN Human Rights Council recommendations. In so doing, we increase international pressure on States to guarantee human rights within their borders.
  • Informing Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, and Working Groups appointed by the Human Rights Council to monitor and investigate human rights violations. We also support these experts when they make site visits to communities. They can and do apply pressure on governments to resolve human rights violations.

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UN Representative on Indigenous Peoples asked to investigate human rights violations caused by Panama’s Barro Blanco dam

A total of 12 civil society organizations urged the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, to conduct a formal investigation into the human rights...read more

Human Rights, Indigenous Rights | 29 November 2012

Amidst criticism, BNDES approves unprecedented loan for controversial Belo Monte dam in Brazilian Amazon

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