The ceremony will be held on Thursday, September 27 at the global organization’s headquarters in New York.

The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (the Escazú Agreement) will open for the signature of all the countries in the region on Thursday, September 27 at United Nations headquarters in New York, in the framework of the general debate of the 73^rd session of the global organization’s General Assembly.

The Escazú Agreement – so named because it was adopted last March 4 in the municipality of Escazú in Costa Rica – is the region’s first environmental agreement and is the only one of its kind in the world, since it includes specific provisions regarding defenders of human rights in environmental matters. It is the first legal instrument to have emerged thus far from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Río+20).

The official opening for signature ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. in the Treaty Event Area (“Kuwaiti Boat Area”) in the building of the UN General Assembly.

The ceremony will be headed by the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Miguel de Serpa Soares, and will include participants such as the President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, and Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, in their capacity as co-chairs of the process, along with other Heads of Government, Foreign Affairs Ministers and Ministers of the region, as well as Alicia Bárcena, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which holds the Technical Secretariat of the Agreement.

From September 27 onward, any State that has signed the Regional Agreement will be able to ratify, accept or approve it. Ratification, acceptance or approval can be undertaken immediately after the signature. To enter into force, the Agreement will require 11 States Parties.

In addition to the official delegations from signatory countries, other potential participants in the ceremony include intergovernmental organizations and related entities that have observer status with the General Assembly, as well as non-governmental organizations that are in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Their access to the hall will depend on the availability of space in the room and prior obtention of the corresponding grounds passes.

The Escazú Agreement seeks that all persons have access to timely and reliable information, can participate in an effective way in the decisions that affect their lives and their environment, and can access justice in environmental matters, thereby contributing to the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This is an agreement made by us, for us and the generations to come. It is a visionary instrument, without precedent, a second-generation environmental treaty because it explicitly links environmental matters with human rights and guarantees procedural rights that are essential for adequately implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, indicated.

Also on Thursday, September 27, the event “Early Ratification of the Escazú Agreement: Regional action on Environmental Democracy to fulfill the vision of the 2030 SDG Agenda” will take place at the Open Society Foundation’s headquarters in New York (5:30 – 9 p.m.). Organized jointly by ECLAC, the governments of Chile and Costa Rica and the organizations The Access Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean, Open Society Foundation, Namati, World Resources Institute, Amnesty International, Civicus and DAR (Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), this event aims to promote dialogue and inspire countries to sign, ratify and implement the Escazú Agreement.