scholarly journals Addressing Climate Change through International Human Rights Law: From (Extra)Territoriality to Common Concern of Humankind

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Vincent Bellinkx ◽  
Deborah Casalin ◽  
Gamze Erdem Türkelli ◽  
Werner Scholtz ◽  
Wouter Vandenhole
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Burden Sharing ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
International Human

Abstract International human rights law (IHRL) offers potential responses to the consequences of climate change. However, the focus of IHRL on territorial jurisdiction and the causation-based allocation of obligations does not match the global nature of climate change impacts and their indirect causation. The primary aim of this article is to respond to the jurisdictional challenge of IHRL in the context of climate change, including its indirect, slow-onset consequences such as climate change migration. It does so by suggesting a departure from (extra)territoriality and an embrace of global international cooperation obligations in IHRL. The notion of common concern of humankind (CCH) in international environmental law offers conceptual inspiration for the manner in which burden sharing between states may facilitate international cooperation in response to global problems. Such a reconfiguration of the jurisdictional tenets of IHRL is central to enabling a meaningful human rights response to the harmful consequences of climate change.

The Paris Agreement as a Human Rights Treaty

2020 ◽  
pp. 323-347
Author(s):  
John H Knox
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Previous Decade ◽  
International Human ◽  
Human Rights Norms

This chapter examines the Paris Agreement on climate change in light of international human rights law, with particular attention to the human rights language included in the Paris Agreement. The chapter reviews the efforts over the previous decade to characterize climate change as a threat to human rights; describes the evolution of human rights obligations relating to environmental harm in general and to climate change in particular; and assesses the new climate regime in light of these norms. It concludes that the Paris Agreement is consistent with the human rights obligations relating to climate change in many respects, but that states must strengthen their commitments in order to fulfil those obligations completely. Finally, the chapter examines how human rights norms may influence climate policy in the future.

Part III Structural Principles, Ch.17 Solidarity

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfrum Rüdiger
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
Structural Principles ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the role and influence of the principle of solidarity on international human rights law. It analyses the pronouncement of the United Nations on solidarity and the impact of solidarity on some international legal regimes concerned with peace, trade law and environmental law. This article argues that solidarity not only facilitated the internationalization of human rights concerns but also significantly influenced modern doctrines of reparations for human rights victims, the responsibility to protect and humanitarian assistance.

scholarly journals Due Diligence in International Environmental Law and International Human Rights Law: A Comparative Legal Study of the Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement and Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Medes Malaihollo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
International Human

AbstractDue diligence is a frequently employed notion in international law, yet much is still to be explored about this concept. This article aims to contribute to an understanding of due diligence obligations in international law, which is useful as it can form the basis for a further clarification of corresponding legal rights of subjects of international law. With this purpose in mind, this article initiates the construction of a working model of due diligence in international law by exploring this notion from two perspectives: an accountability perspective and a regulatory perspective. Subsequently, this article will use this model to compare the operation of due diligence obligations in two branches of international law: international environmental law and international human rights law. In doing so, it will become clear that due diligence contains two core elements: ‘reasonableness’ and ‘good faith’. Moreover, it will become apparent that the operation of due diligence obligations in these two branches has implications for systemic issues in international law. Further research on the operation of due diligence obligations in other branches of international law is therefore recommended.

Sustainable Development and Human Rights: An Integrated Conception

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 796-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic McGoldrick
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Right ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
European Court ◽  
International Human

This article seeks to present an integrated conception of sustainable development, with particular emphasis on the contribution of international human rights law and theory. Part II considers a structural conception of sustainable development. Part III considers parallels between sustainable development and self-determination. Part IV provides some general reflections on international environmental law and international human rights law in terms of analogous concepts, principles and systems. What similarities are there and what differences? Part V considers the progress made towards recognition of a “human right to the environment”. Part VI considers how international environmental claims could be brought within the existing international human rights complaint systems. Part VII analyses the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in theLopez Ostracase (1994), the leading case on environmental claims to have reached that Court.

scholarly journals Possibilities for Justice and Equity in Human Rights and Climate Law: Benefit-Sharing in Climate Finance

Climate Law ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Kim Bouwer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Climate Finance ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human

Abstract This article examines benefit-sharing in the context of climate finance. Both benefit-sharing and climate finance are complex, heterogeneous, and fast-developing fields, where the interaction of international human rights law and climate law can create both clarity and confusion. Benefit-sharing as a means for greater equity and fairness is increasingly used or included in materials on climate finance, despite lacking clear conceptualization in this context. The article does three things. First, it establishes benefit-sharing as an emerging obligation in human rights law and environmental law. Second, it explores how benefit-sharing appears in the climate regime, with a view to determining whether benefit-sharing has a distinct meaning in this context – and, if so, what it is. The article argues that both the meaning and the practice of benefit-sharing in climate finance are incoherent. Third, the article interrogates the possibilities and problems of adopting universalized norms of benefit-sharing in this context, and suggests some places where norms might be beneficial.

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