The Human Right to a Healthy Environment

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Notes

1 UN General Assembly (2010) The human right to water and sanitation A/Res/64/292; UN Human Rights Council (2010) Human rights and access to safe drinking water and sanitation A/HRC/Res/15/9; UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2002) General Comment No 15: The right to water E/C12/2002/11.

2 UN Human Rights Council, The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (8 October 2021) A/HRC/48/L23/Rev1. While this resolution was agreed after the book’s 2018 publication, chapter 11 by Marc Limon provides key insights to its development. Regarding the ability of the Council to declare new rights, see also chapter 10 by Marcos Orellana, 184–87.

3 See UN Human Rights Council Resolution 7/23 and Report of the OHCHR on the relationship between climate change and human rights (15 January 2009) UN doc A/HRC/10/61.

4 See also Dinah Shelton’s chapter 6, which discusses case law from the European Court of Human Rights.

5 Elina Pirjatanniemi, ‘Greening Human Rights Law: A Focus on the European Convention on Human Rights’, in Gerhard Bos and Marcus Düwell (eds), Human Rights and Sustainability: Moral Responsibilities for the Future (Routledge 2016).

6 See Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 1885 (2009) Drafting an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to a healthy environment.

7 Duarte Agostinho and Others v Portugal and 32 other States App No 39371/20; Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland App No 53600/20; Greenpeace Nordic and Others v Norway App No 34068/21. Regarding human rights and climate change, see chapters 13 and 14 by Lavanya Rajamani and Sumudu Atapattu respectively.

8 Critiques have also addressed the anthropocentric nature of a human rights approach to the environment. See e.g. Jan Wilkens and Alvine RC Datchoua-Tirvaudey, ‘Researching Climate Justice: A Decolonial Approach to Global Climate Governance’ (2022) 98 International Affairs 125; Anna Grear, ‘Deconstruction Anthropos: A Critical Legal Reflection on “Anthropocentric” Law and Anthropocene “Humanity”’ (2015) 26 Law and Critique 225.

9 Inter-American Court of Human Rights Indigenous Communities of the Lhaka Honhat (Our Land) Association v Argentina, Judgment of February 6, 2020 (Merits, reparations, and costs).

10 The environment is, however, protected regionally in art 11 Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador) (adopted 17 November 1988, entered into force 16 November 1999) OAS Treaty Series No 69.

11 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Environment and Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC-23/17, Series A No 23 (15 November 2017).

12 The 2005 petition against Canada by Inuit groups (Sheila Watt-Cloutier et al Petition No P-1413-05) is discussed in the book, 217–20. Regarding the 2013 petition against the USA by the Athabaskan Peoples (23 April 2013), see Agnieszka Szpak, ‘Artic Athabaskan Council’s Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Climate Change: Business As Usual Or A Breakthrough?’ (2020) 162 Climatic Change 1575.

13 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Sacchi et al v Argentina et al (8 October 2021) CRC/C/88/D/104/2019; Petition of Torres Strait Islanders to the United Nations Human Rights Committee Alleging Violations Stemming from Australia’s Inaction on Climate Change (2019) <http://climatecasechart.com/climate-change-litigation/non-us-case/petition-of-torres-strait-islanders-to-the-united-nations-human-rights-committee-alleging-violations-stemming-from-australias-inaction-on-climate-change/> accessed 13 March 2022.

14 See Dinah Shelton’s chapter 6 in the book. Regarding how decision-makers and lawyers should approach such cases see Julie Fraser and Laura Henderson, ‘The Human Rights Turn in Climate Change Litigation and Responsibilities of Legal Professionals’ (2022) 40(1) Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/09240519221085342.

15 See e.g. UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation No 37 on Gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change (7 February 2018) UN Doc CEDAW/C/GC/37.

16 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, A/HRC/37/58 (24 January 2018) para 15.

17 See e.g. Karin Arts, ‘Children’s Rights and Climate Change’ in Claire Fenton-Glynn (ed), Children’s Rights and Sustainable Development: Interpreting the UNCRC for Future Generations (Cambridge University Press 2019); Elizabeth D Gibbons, ‘Climate Change, Children’s Rights, and the Pursuit of Intergenerational Climate Justice’ (2014) 16 Health and Human Rights Journal 19; Joni Pegram, ‘Overlooked and Undermined: Child Rights and Climate Change’ in Sébastien Duyck, Sébastien Jodoin, and Alyssa Johl (eds), Routledge Handbook of Human Rights and Climate Governance (Routledge 2018); Bridget Lewis, ‘Children’s Human Rights-Based Climate Litigation at the Frontiers of Environmental and Children’s Rights’ (2021) 39(2) Nordic Journal of Human Rights 180.

18 See UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Draft general comment No 26 on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change, <www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRC/Pages/GC26-Environment.aspx> accessed 13 March 2022.

19 Christine Chinkin and Keina Yoshida, ‘Women’s Human Rights and Climate Change: State Obligations and Standards’ (July 2020) LSE Policy Briefing 43.