Travel Notes: Antigua, Guatemala

Trip Report

Charlie Tebbutt

Antigua, Guatemala

On behalf of E-LAW U.S., Charlie Tebutt, Staff Attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center , attended the World Summit of Attorneys General in Antigua, Guatemala, February 2-5, 2004. Charlie offered his expertise on enforcement of environmental laws from an NGO perspective. The following is an excerpt from his report.

Despite being billed primarily as a summit to discuss terrorism and drug trafficking, environmental issues were prominently featured on the agenda of the 2004 World Summit of Attorneys General. Following inaugural addresses, we broke into seven workgroups, one of which was on prosecution of environmental crimes. E-LAW advocate Jose Ignacio Pinochet from Chile served as facilitator of that workgroup, composed of attorneys general and prosecutors from Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. Our task was to provide recommendations for the full Summit on improving standards of environmental enforcement for introduction to countries of the world as well as potential use in international protocols.

Charlie Tebbutt (right), Santa Domingo, Guatemala

I made several recommendations, including:

• shifting the burden of proof to polluters to show that chemicals are safe before being discharged into the environment,
• including citizen enforcement provisions in national and international laws with fees paid to citizens by polluters and governments when citizens are successful, and
• presuming that corporations are acting criminally when they leave one country to move to another with less stringent environmental standards.

To my great surprise, these suggestions were not only welcomed, but strengthened!

The recommendations of our workgroup were incorporated generally into the final Declaration of the World Summit adopted by the members of the 75 countries in attendance.

There was widespread awareness and recognition of the importance of E-LAW’s work and accomplishments. One legal counsel from the United Nations told me that he cruised E-LAW’s website on a regular basis and found its accomplishments incredible.

To be an ambassador for an organization that has made such important global impacts as E-LAW is an honor.

The next Summit will be held in Qatar in late 2005. We’ll keep an eye on progress toward achieving the recommendations made in the Declaration of Antigua.