Latest news with #IACHR
New Straits Times
23-07-2025
- New Straits Times
Ecuador's 'Fito': From taxi driver to drug lord to an American jail
FORMER mechanic and taxi driver Adolfo Macias rose from a life of petty crime to the top of Ecuador's drug gang hierarchy, using extreme violence to try and submit an entire country to his will. His reign of terror has seemingly come to an end, however, as the 45-year-old head of Ecuador's "Los Choneros" gang pleaded "not guilty" to drug and weapons charges in a New York court Monday. In January 2024, Macias – alias "Fito" – made international headlines when he escaped from a prison in Ecuador's port city of Guayaquil – a hub for drug exports. He had been serving a 34-year sentence for weapons possession, narcotics trafficking, organised crime and murder. Jail did little to check Macias's ambitions: he earned his law degree behind bars and continued pulling the strings of the criminal underworld. Videos have emerged of him holding wild prison parties, some with fireworks. In one recording, a mariachi band and the drug lord's daughter perform a narco-glorifying ballad in the prison yard while he laughingly strokes a fighting cock. Fito exercised "significant internal control over the prison," the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) noted in a 2022 report following a meeting with the gang leader. His escape prompted the government to deploy the military, to the anger of Los Choneros, which unleashed a wave of violence in response. The gang detonated car bombs, held prison guards hostage and stormed a television station during a live broadcast in several days of running battles that prompted President Daniel Noboa to declare a "state of internal armed conflict." In June this year, a massive military and police operation dragged a bedraggled Fito from a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, where he was born. No shots were fired, and the government was quick to release photos of the overweight, dishevelled Macias appearing rather less dangerous than his deadly reputation. On Sunday, he was put on a New York-bound plane in Guayaquil wearing shorts, a bulletproof vest and helmet, and on Monday he appeared in court. He was smiling. Macias became leader of Los Choneros in 2020, at a time when it was transitioning away from petty crime and establishing links with the big-league Colombian and Mexican drug cartels. "The defendant served for years as the principal leader of Los Choneros, a notoriously violent transnational criminal organization, and was a ruthless and infamous drug and firearms trafficker," US attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement ahead of Monday's hearing. "The defendant and his co-conspirators flooded the United States and other countries with drugs and used extreme measures of violence in their quest for power and control," he added. Macias has also been linked to the assassination of presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Fernando Villavicencio at a political rally in 2023. Villavicencio had accused Los Choneros of threatening his life. The gang is one of dozens blamed for bringing bloodshed to Ecuador, once one of the world's safest nations, but now one of its deadliest. The country is wedged between the world's top two cocaine exporters – Colombia and Peru – and more than 70 percent of all worldwide production now passes through Ecuador's ports, according to government data. Under Macias's leadership, Los Choneros "have leveraged their connections and sway... to become a key link in the transnational cocaine supply chain," according to an analysis by the InSight Crime think-tank. It said the gang oversees the arrival of cocaine shipments from Colombia and uses a fleet of speedboats to send it on to Central America and Mexico, from where it is shipped to consumer markets in North America and Europe. "With or without Fito, Ecuador will continue to be a top cocaine transit nation," said the NGO. Macias had also escaped prison in 2013, but managed to elude authorities for only three months at the time. On Sunday, he became the first Ecuadoran extradited by his country since the measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which Noboa sought the approval of measures to boost his war on criminal gangs.
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Countries must protect human right to a stable climate, court rules
There is a human right to a stable climate and states have a duty to protect it, a top court has ruled. Announcing the publication of a landmark advisory opinion on climate change on Thursday, Nancy Hernández López, president of the inter-American court of human rights (IACHR), said climate change carries 'extraordinary risks' that are felt particularly keenly by people who are already vulnerable. In the strongly worded and wide-ranging 300-page document setting out its perspective on the climate emergency and human rights, the court says states have legal obligations to protect people alive today and future generations from the impacts of climate change. That includes taking 'urgent and effective' actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions based on the best available science, to adapt, to cooperate internationally, and to guard against the threat of climate disinformation. The inquiry was instigated by Colombia and Chile, which in 2023 asked what legal responsibilities states have to tackle climate change and to stop them breaching people's human rights. The Costa Rica-based court received hundreds of submissions and held a series of hearings last year in Barbados and the Brazilian cities of Brasília and Manaus. A wide variety of states and regional bodies, academics and civil society groups – as well as individual victims of climate change themselves – were allowed to participate. 'The evidence we have seen and received during the hearing and written submissions shows that there is no margin for indifference,' López said. 'Success depends on all of us.' The IACHR's founding purpose is to interpret and apply the American convention on human rights, a treaty ratified by members of the Organization of American States (OAS). But its newly published opinion takes into account a broad range of national, regional and international laws and principles. And it affirms that the findings not just apply only to signatories of the convention but to all 35 members of the OAS, which includes the United States and Canada. The court affirmed the right to a healthy environment, and said for the first time that this includes the right to a stable climate. This means states have legal obligations to regulate emissions from both public and private organisations. The court says all businesses have a responsibility not to harm human rights but those that have emitted huge volumes of greenhouse gas emissions in the past or present have a particular responsibility 'due to the risk created by their activities'. It singles out the exploration, extraction, transportation and processing of fossil fuels, cement manufacturing and agro-industry. States must set tougher requirements for such sectors, it says, suggesting changes to business operating conditions, taxation, contributions to just transition plans and strategies, investment in education, adaptation measures and addressing loss and damage. If companies do not comply, it suggests the polluting activities should stop and states consider demanding compensation for the harm caused to the climate. It adds that states should pass laws so that transnational corporations and conglomerates can be fully held to account for the emissions of their subsidiaries. States also have a duty to ensure a fair transition to a cleaner society, and must ensure that this does not in itself involve breaching human rights, for example, when mining for critical minerals needed for electric vehicles. 'This is not just about the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy,' said Marcella Ribeiro, a senior human rights and environment attorney for the Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (Aida), an environmental law organisation that works in Latin America. 'This is an opportunity for a structural transformation that will correct historical inequality and protect people and ecosystems.' The IACHR also recognised the rights of nature and states have a duty to restore damage to ecosystems caused by climate change. Luisa Gómez, senior attorney for the Center for International Environmental Law, said the court made a 'critical connection' between the effects of the climate crisis on the rights of people and ecosystems, and how those responsible for guaranteeing those rights should react. 'It sends a clear message that impunity in climate matters can no longer be tolerated.' The inter-American court of human rights is the second of four top courts to publish an advisory opinion on climate change. The first court to publish its opinion, the international tribunal for the law of the sea, concluded last year that greenhouse gases are pollutants that are wrecking the marine environment, and states have a legal responsibility to control them. The international court of justice held hearings on its own opinion last December and is expected to publish in the coming months. Meanwhile, the African court on human and people's rights has only just begun the process. These documents are technically non-binding but are considered authoritative because they summarise existing law. And they are expected to be used in future litigation and political negotiations. Viviana Krsticevic, executive director of the Centre for Justice and International Law, a human rights NGO which supported Colombia and Chile's request for the advisory opinion, said the new opinion gives a 'very rich roadmap' for responding to the climate emergency across society, including setting a series of standards for national climate strategies that could be very important for the forthcoming COP30 in Brazil.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Latin America court calls for unified climate action as legal fights mount
By Alexander Villegas SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Member states must cooperate to tackle climate change and not take actions that set back environmental protections, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) said in a non-binding advisory opinion issued on Thursday. The court holds jurisdiction over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the advisory opinion, requested by Colombia and Chile, said that countries must also regulate and monitor corporate activities, especially those that generate greenhouse gases. The opinion also said companies must adopt "effective" measures to combat climate change and states should discourage "greenwashing" and undue corporate influence in politics and regulations related to climate change. States must also pass legislation for companies to act with "due diligence when it comes to human rights and climate change along their value chain." States must also set binding GHG emission mitigation goals that "are as ambitious as possible" with concrete time frames. Cooperation must go beyond transboundary harm, the opinion said, and should go beyond mitigation and adaptation and cover all necessary measures to comprehensively respond to the climate emergency. Maria Antonia Tigre, director of global climate change litigation at the Sabin Center at Columbia Law School, said that many countries rely on these opinions as precedent, even though they're non-binding. "The (IACHR) is a little bit of a special case because it's highly influential in domestic courts," Tigre said, adding that regional supreme courts often cite IACHR opinions. "The other aspect is if there is a contentious case on the topic, it will likely follow what's said in the advisory opinion," she said, citing a 2024 IACHR as an example. In 2024, the IACHR ordered Peru to pay damages to a mining town, a decision that followed the 2017 interpretation of an 2017 advisory opinion the court issued that stated that a healthy environment was a human right. The ruling builds on a global wave of climate litigation as countries, organizations and individuals are increasingly turning to courts for climate action. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights said climate inaction violates human rights and a South Korean court said that the country's climate change law does not effectively shield future generations. Vanuatu has also urged the top United Nations court to recognize the harm caused by climate change in its judgment on the legal obligation of countries to fight it and address the consequences of contributing to global warming. The ruling is expected this year. The IACHR opinion noted that climate litigation is an "emerging field" but also an increasingly essential tool for holding states and companies accountable for climate change and obligations.
Reuters
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Latin America court calls for unified climate action as legal fights mount
SANTIAGO, July 3 (Reuters) - Member states must cooperate to tackle climate change and not take actions that set back environmental protections, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) said in a non-binding advisory opinion issued on Thursday. The court holds jurisdiction over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the advisory opinion, requested by Colombia and Chile, said that countries must also regulate and monitor corporate activities, especially those that generate greenhouse gases. The opinion also said companies must adopt "effective" measures to combat climate change and states should discourage "greenwashing" and undue corporate influence in politics and regulations related to climate change. States must also pass legislation for companies to act with "due diligence when it comes to human rights and climate change along their value chain." States must also set binding GHG emission mitigation goals that "are as ambitious as possible" with concrete time frames. Cooperation must go beyond transboundary harm, the opinion said, and should go beyond mitigation and adaptation and cover all necessary measures to comprehensively respond to the climate emergency. Maria Antonia Tigre, director of global climate change litigation at the Sabin Center at Columbia Law School, said that many countries rely on these opinions as precedent, even though they're non-binding. "The (IACHR) is a little bit of a special case because it's highly influential in domestic courts," Tigre said, adding that regional supreme courts often cite IACHR opinions. "The other aspect is if there is a contentious case on the topic, it will likely follow what's said in the advisory opinion," she said, citing a 2024 IACHR as an example. In 2024, the IACHR ordered Peru to pay damages to a mining town, a decision that followed the 2017 interpretation of an 2017 advisory opinion the court issued that stated that a healthy environment was a human right. The ruling builds on a global wave of climate litigation as countries, organizations and individuals are increasingly turning to courts for climate action. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights said climate inaction violates human rights and a South Korean court said that the country's climate change law does not effectively shield future generations. Vanuatu has also urged the top United Nations court to recognize the harm caused by climate change in its judgment on the legal obligation of countries to fight it and address the consequences of contributing to global warming. The ruling is expected this year. The IACHR opinion noted that climate litigation is an "emerging field" but also an increasingly essential tool for holding states and companies accountable for climate change and obligations.
Straits Times
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Latin America court calls for unified climate action as legal fights mount
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox SANTIAGO - States have the obligation to cooperate in reducing emissions and protecting the environment to counteract climate change, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) said in an advisory opinion issued on Thursday. The court holds jurisdiction over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and the advisory opinion, requested by Colombia and Chile, said that countries must also regulate and monitor corporate emissions. States must also set emissions goals based on the best available science and should proportionate with contributions to respective emissions and not put on undue burden on future generations. The ruling builds on a global wave of climate litigation as countries, organizations and individuals are increasingly turning to courts for climate action. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights said climate inaction violates human rights and a South Korean court said that the country's climate change law does not effectively shield future generations. Vanuatu has also urged the top United Nations court to recognize the harm caused by climate change in its judgment on the legal obligation of countries to fight it and address the consequences of them contributing to global warming. The ruling is expected this year. REUTERS
