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General Information about CEDHA

Created in 1999, the Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) is a non-profit organization which aims to build a more harmonious relationship between the environment and people. Our work centers on promoting greater access to justice and guarantee human rights for victims of environmental degradation, or due to non-sustainable management of natural resources, and to prevent future violations. To this end, CEDHA fosters the creation of inclusive public policy that promotes inclusive socially and environmentally sustainable development, through community participation, public interest litigation, strengthening democratic institutions, and the capacity building of key actors.

CEDHA Activities Include

Litigation and Legal Advisory Assistance
Advocacy
Capacity Building
Empowerment of Victims and Civil Society
Research and Publications

Thematic Focuses

Participation and Access to Information
The Human Right to Water
International Financial Institutions
Human Rights and Business
Poverty, Human Rights and Environment

Details of Activities

Litigation and Legal Advisory Assistance

Litigation activities center on improving access to justice for victims of environmental degradation and preventing future violations. Litigation is utilized not only as a tool to realize human rights, but also as an instrument to strengthen civil society and to influence the development of public policy. Legal actions consider the social and community dimensions of environmental problems, which implies the promotion of "legal awareness" geared to guarantee that individuals and communities are able to lead and engage judicial process towards the effective realization of human rights.

Actions

Representation of and legal advisory assistance to victims and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) locally and internationally.
Preparation of Amicus Briefs (legal briefs) and legal strategy advisory assistance in environmental cases before local and international tribunals.
Coordination of a Human Rights and Environment Public Interest Legal Clinic.
Coordination and Capacity Building of members of the Argentine Environmental Defense Network (RADA).
Advisory Assistance on Legislative Bills.

Advocacy

Our advocacy work centers on pressuring local and international public institutions and policy makers to construct more efficient and effective environmental and human rights protection mechanisms. In this effort, we work to strengthen, change or create local and international law, normative and regulatory frameworks and public policy favorable to sustainable development.

Actions

Advocacy before national judicial, executive and legislative institutions.
Advocacy before international organizations such as the Inter-American Human Rights System, the UN System, the OAS, and International Financial Institutions (IFIs), et.al.
Active participation in the Summit of the Americas Process and in Trade Agreements.
Advocacy to promote private sector norms and compliance with human rights and environmental law and policy.

Capacity Building

CEDHA's numerous Capacity Building activities focus on building local know-how to utilize access to justice mechanisms on how to seek legal and political redress for environmental degradation, how to leverage action collectively, how to exercise and demand the protection of human rights affected by environmental degradation, and how to rethink development advocacy from a human rights perspective.

Actions

Assistance to victims and communities to access available justice channels.
Training of CSOs locally and internationally in human rights and environmental advocacy methodologies.
Education and awareness building of civil society and public sector actors on the relationship between environmental degradation, equitable access to natural resources, and the realization of human rights.
Education and Awareness building of private sector actors on human rights and environmental norms and compliance.
Training of students and attorneys in public interest litigation on human rights and environment. ¹

¹ The Human Rights en Environmental Legal Clinic is a public interest legal practice laboratory and space to reflect on judicial matters focusing on real cases involving human rights violations caused by environmental degradation or by non-sustainable management of natural resources. Its primary aim is to promote that attorneys and students develop social awareness in their practice as defenders of justice. Through this practice in public interest litigation, not only do we assist defenseless victims with access to justice, but we also help students of law acquire professional capacity and an understanding of law as an instrument for social change and as a generator of public policy.

Empowerment of Victims and Civil Society

Empowerment activities focus on encouraging and accompanying victims and communities, and civil society leaders to take steps to utilize existing access to justice mechanisms. These activities aim to strengthen communities in their capacity to develop strategies to demand their rights, promoting social awareness on the perception of environmental degradation as violations of human rights, ensuring the direct participation of victims and of CSOs in the development of related public policies.

Actions

Communication with, education, awareness building and advocacy assistance in marginal, poor or excluded neighborhoods where human rights are affected by environmental degradation or by the non-sustainable management of natural resources.
Encouragement and accompaniment of victims, community leaders, and CSO leaders to utilize access to justice mechanisms in cases of environmental degradation.
Fostering the creation of and assistance in coordination of networks of affected communities to nationalize issues, disseminate information and channel collective action.

Research and Publications

CEDHA conducts research and publishes essays, books, case studies, and training materials, with a view to advance the debate on human rights and environment linkages.

Actions

Statistics and information gathering and field work in environmentally affected communities.
Research on Poverty, Human Rights and the Environment.

Detail of Activities in Thematic Focuses

Participation and Access to Information

Our work on participation and access to information is to secure greater and more effective civil society input into local and international development processes, including hemispheric governance institutions, as well as local decision-making forums. We work towards the establishment of individual and collective rights to information and participation, as well as on public governance institution compliance with local and international obligations to assure effective participation channels and access to information on public policy formulation.

The Human Right to Water

Our work on the human right to water is geared to secure human rights protection in the management of water resources. We work at the local and international level to defend victims of non-sustainable use of water; on the conservation of biodiversity; on the legal recognition of access to drinking water as a human right; on the promotion of legislation that incorporates a social perspective on water issues and; on awareness building on the link between human rights and water.

International Financial Institutions (IFIs)

Our work on IFIs is geared to strengthen and guarantee human rights and environmental law compliance of IFI projects, investments and policy, as well as to push for more effective access to justice mechanisms for victims or potential victims of IFI activity. CEDHA works to increase the transparency of IFIs; foster greater access to information; increase public participation in IFI policy development and decision-making; promote research and publications on the human rights and environmental implications of IFI projects and activities; build the capacity of other civil society organizations to work on IFI advocacy; and to foster the use of access to justice mechanisms in cases where IFI activities have negative impacts on people, communities and the environment.

Human Rights and Business

Our work on human rights and business fosters the strengthening, compliance, and awareness of corporate environmental and human rights normative frameworks and standards at the local and international level. In this area, we work towards the development of guidelines and methodology to measure the human rights and environmental impacts of corporate behavior.

Poverty, Human Rights and the Environment

Our work in this area centers on deepening our understanding of violations of human rights and the existence of discriminatory and/or regressive environmental public policy particularly in poor urban and rural sectors. Through research we work to identify the most severe and urgent environmental problems affecting the human rights of people living in poor communities. We are seeking alternative solutions to fight poverty, advancing from an environmental perspective which considers human rights such as the right to adequate and decent housing, the right to a healthy environment, the right to health, and the right to food, among others. These activities are geared to develop civil society advocacy strategies to defend poor communities and promote equity in public policy aimed at poverty reduction.