In 1998, the Mexican environmentalists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera founded the Organization of Farmer Ecologists of the Sierra of Petatlán and Coyuca of Catalán (OCESP), an organization that fought against devastating logging by Boise Cascade and other corporations in the state of Guerrero. In 1999, Montiel and Cabrera were detained by the Mexican army, tortured, and convicted on false charges based on coerced confessions; they were ultimately released in 2001.
On September 10, EarthRights International (ERI) submitted an amicus brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, in support of Montiel and Cabrera's case against Mexico. ERI's brief argues that abuses against environmentalists are common where multinational corporations are engaged in natural resource extraction, and that the Mexican state should take measures to insure that abuses do not occur in similar situations in the future.
Additionally, ERI's brief argues that Montiel and Cabrera's advocacy around timber extraction in their communities was an exercise of their right to participation in government under the American Convention on Human Rights, and that the American Convention also protects the right to participation in decisions regarding resource development. Another organization, the Environmental Defender Law Center, also submitted an amicus brief focused on the rights of environmental defenders and abuses against environmentalists.
ERI previously helped to submit an amicus brief in the same case when it was heard before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the first step before a case can proceed to the Inter-American Court. In 2002, ERI assisted the Center for Human Rights and Environment and the Center for International Environmental Law in submitting an amicus brief that argued that environmental defenders should be given the same legal protections as human rights defenders under international law.
ERI Amicus Brief in Montiel & Cabrera v. Mexico (English)
