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Date and Location
Anna Livia Arida
The intersection of environmental rights and LGBTQI+ rights is one of the most urgent and underexplored frontiers in international human rights law. Environmental defenders — people who stand up for communities' rights to clean water, land, air, and a safe climate — already face some of the world's most severe patterns of violence, criminalization, and persecution. LGBTQI+ defenders carry an added burden: they are targeted not only for their environmental advocacy, but for who they are. This compounded vulnerability demands dedicated attention from the international community.
We are honored to welcome Astrid Puentes Riaño, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, whose mandate sits at the heart of this conversation. Together, we will explore the emerging jurisprudence and policy frameworks that recognize the distinct risks faced by LGBTQI+ environmental defenders — and what stronger, more inclusive protections could look like.
More about the speaker: Astrid Puentes is a human rights lawyer with extensive experience in international environmental and human rights law, with a particular focus on Latin America. She was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Environmental Defenders and has developed significant expertise in the structural factors that expose defenders to harm, including gender, identity, and intersectionality.
Moderator: Victor Madrigal-Borloz, UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (2018-2023).
*Lunch will be served at the event
This is event is co-sponsored by Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights