Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (General)

Indigenous Achuar From the Peruvian Amazon Face Off
Against Occidental Petroleum Over Destruction of Pristine Rainforest

(Los Angeles, CA) - A key hearing was held yesterday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the landmark environmental and public health case brought by indigenous Peruvian Achuar and the U.S. NGO Amazon Watch against Los Angeles-based oil giant Occidental Petroleum (OXY). The appeals court's decision will likely determine whether OXY will have to defend its 30 year-old legacy of massive pollution in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon in a courtroom in Los Angeles, just miles from its world headquarters, or whether the case will move to Peru.

ESCR-Net members have submitted alternative reports for the following States : Brazil, Cyprus, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland, Australia and Cambodia,  to the UN Committee on ESCR.

On June 18, the United Nations’ intergovernmental Human Rights Council took an important step toward eliminating the artificial divide between freedom from fear and freedom from want that has characterized the human rights system since its inception.