A/HRC/31/53 47. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights established the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in November 2012. Pursuant to his mandate, he has expressed interest in examining the implementation of the right to a healthy environment, in line with the Protocol of San Salvador to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 48. The Inter-American Commission has held a number of thematic hearings in relation to the situation of human rights defenders working on environmental related issues. For example, in 2015, it held a hearing on the situation of environmental human rights defenders in relation to extractive industries and another hearing on the situation of defenders of women’s rights and the environment. In the past few years, the Commission has also held many hearings in relation to defenders working on environmental issues in specific countries. The Commission has also held hearings on the effects that extractive industries have on the enjoyment of human rights, such as access to water. 49. In addition, the Inter-American Commission often issues precautionary measures to protect the lives of environmental human rights defenders. A recent example is the 2015 case of Kevin Donaldo Ramírez and family v. Honduras, in which the Commission requested the State to adopt measures to protect an environmental human rights defender and his family, who had been harassed and subjected to acts of violence for his activities. 2. Other regional bodies 50. Human rights obligations relating to the environment have also been implemented through regional agreements on the rights to information, participation and remedy. The leading example is the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, adopted by States members of the Economic Commission for Europe. In addition to setting out clear standards, the Convention establishes a Compliance Committee that can receive communications by members of the public and deliver non-binding recommendations. The credibility that the Committee enjoys among the contracting parties, other international courts and civil society has been a significant factor promoting implementation of the Committee’s findings. The parties to the Aarhus Convention have also established the Task Force on Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, which provides a platform for sharing information, experiences and good practices in relation to access to justice in environmental matters. 51. A more recent initiative is the negotiation by 20 States members of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of a regional agreement on the rights to information, participation and remedy. The negotiators hope to conclude the agreement by December 2016. When adopted, the agreement will provide invaluable support to secure the effective enjoyment of those rights. It will also help to enhance domestic laws implementing multilateral environmental agreements and domestic policies in other areas, including climate change, chemicals and waste management, and biological diversity. 52. Other regional bodies, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), could consider the adoption of similar regional conventions and agreements. For example, an ASEAN agreement could not only strengthen the implementation of procedural rights, including rights related to participation and access to information, but also build on its 2007 Declaration on Environmental Sustainability. Similarly, ASEAN could consider the development of a framework agreement on principles and procedures for environmental impact assessments. The framework could set out guidelines to identify projects that would require such assessments and provide minimum standards for public participation. Such an agreement could also strengthen and clarify ASEAN environmental quality standards and guidelines to assist project proponents, as well as set out specific procedures for environmental impact assessments addressing projects with direct 11