Climate Change and Human Rights

Actualmente existe una controversia sobre cómo el Derecho Internacional debe proteger al creciente número de migrantes climáticos. En este artículo se estudian las estrategias surgidas en el entorno de América Latina, tanto de softlaw como jurisprudencia de la CIDH o políticas nacionales de extranjería, todo lo cual está consolidando una costumbre regional en la materia.


There is a controversy on how the International Law should protect the growing number of climate migrants. This article analyses different strategies came up in Latin America, including soft law, ICHR or immigration national policies, which all together is building up a regional custom on this field.

This report, co-released by West Coast Environmental Law and the Vanuatu Environmental Law Association, explains how well-established principles of private international law allow the courts and governments of individual countries to take action against fossil fuel polluters. The report also includes the first public proposal for the text of a Climate Compensation Act that clarifies the principles of liability for large-scale greenhouse gas emitters, and which could be enacted by countries around the world.

Face à l’urgence climatique, les procédures judiciaires se multiplient à l’encontre des Etats afin de forcer ces derniers à engager une action plus ambitieuse en la matière. À la lumière des affaires menées aux Pays-Bas, en Belgique et en France, cette contribution propose d’une part de documenter la vague du contentieux climatique contemporain contre les États et d’autre part d’analyser l’usage stratégique des droits humains en son sein. Tout d’abord, nous revenons sur les raisons principales qui expliquent la judiciarisation de l’enjeu climatique : un désir de pallier l’absence de volonté politique des États, le souci d’assurer l’effectivité du droit en la matière et l’espoir de créer une dynamique collective – voire politique – autour de l’action judiciaire. Ensuite, un examen des argumentaires juridiques de chaque affaire étudiée permet d’observer la montée en puissance d’une approche fondée sur les droits humains. Enfin, la contribution explore les conséquences qui découlent du choix par les mouvements climatiques de fonder leurs revendications sur le référentiel des droits humains. A cette fin, la triple fonction extra-juridique des droits fondamentaux pour la cause climatique est explicitée : fédérer le mouvement autour d’une notion universelle, favoriser un échange argumentaire entre les différents acteurs à travers le monde et mettre en avant les victimes climatiques. En outre, deux critiques portées aux droits humains sont analysées afin de déterminer leur pertinence dans le cadre des actions étudiées : l’individualisation et la dépolitisation induites par le langage des droits d’une part ainsi que l’anthropocentrisme néfaste de cet instrument d’autre part. Il apparait que le contentieux climatique tel qu’il se déploie semble capable de dépasser ces limites même si chaque action diffère à cet égard.

This report, co-released by West Coast Environmental Law and the Vanuatu Environmental Law Association, explains how well-established principles of private international law allows the courts and governments of individual countries to take action against fossil fuel polluters. The report also includes the first public proposal for the text of a Climate Compensation Act that clarifies the principles of liability for large-scale greenhouse gas emitters, and which could be enacted by countries around the world.

In Bilan et perspectives de l'Accord de Paris (Cop 21) Regards croisés, (dir) Marta Torre-Schaub, Préface Mireille Delmas-Marty 
La « justice climatique », peut être considérée comme un principe d'origine éthique et philosophique. D'une manière plus opérationnelle, on peut l'envisager comme la traduction du concept de justice distributive (une distribution géométrique des avantages entre les membres d'une société, en tenant compte de la valeur respective des personnes et de leurs mérites inégaux) et de justice correctrice (une distribution égale, en faisant une arithmétique des avantages entre les membres d'une société en ignorant les avantages entre chacun) dans le cadre de la lutte contre les changements climatiques 232. On pourrait ainsi proposer une définition de la justice climatique comme « les principes devant guider nos principaux arrangements sociaux, économiques et politiques face à la gestion des risques environnementaux causés par les changements climatiques », parmi lesquels il faut citer le principe de l'équité, l'intérêt des générations futures, le principe des responsabilités communes mais différenciées et le principe du pollueur-payeur. La justice climatique permet dès lors de corriger les inégalités environnementales, sociales et étatiques causées par les changements climatiques.

While there is widespread agreement that climate change has negative implications for the enjoyment of human rights, it remains unclear in what circumstances State action associated with climate change amounts to a human rights violation. To unpack this question, this chapter analyses how the law of State responsibility may apply to human rights violations associated with climate change. This involves a discussion of the nature of States' obligations to prevent human rights violations and to take measures to ensure the realisation of human rights at home and abroad. Specifically, the chapter discusses to what extent human rights obligations and principles prescribe particular forms of climate action at the national level and in the context of international cooperation and support. Finally, the chapter sheds light on the potential legal consequences of human rights violations associated with climate change.

Climate change is a serious global issue, as it affects all components of the Earth, including humanity. This book deals with the obvious difficulties at the time of guaranteeing the existence of climate justice, given the heterogeneity of the availability of resources, and the prioritisation of the interests of certain countries regarding those of others.

Climate change and human trafficking are two pervasive global threats in the contemporary world. This dissertation analyses the linkages between these two phenomena, highlighting how, on the one hand, the effects of climate change affect vulnerability factors to human trafficking and, on the other hand, how human trafficking practices further aggravate climate change. This two-way nexus triggers a dramatic vicious circle: environmental pressures associated with climate change exacerbate inequalities that make individuals susceptible to human trafficking, while human trafficking practices contribute to environmental degradation and further fuel climate change. The analysis of the climate change-human trafficking nexus is developed within a human rights framework that allows to highlight how both these phenomena are consequences of an unbridled global quest for profits that privileges unlimited growth and wealth over wellbeing, human rights, and sustainability. In this perspective, it is argued that International Human Rights Law offers concrete responses to combat the vicious circle. In the spirit of providing a common ground on which policymakers and researchers can cooperate, the dissertation proposes some measures that states could implement in accordance with their positive obligations under IHRL to address the two issues in an interconnected manner so as to curb the vicious circle.

The right to a remedy is central to a human rights approach to climate change. However , a range of obstacles inhibit access to justice for victims of human rights violations caused by climate change. This article considers two elements of the right to a remedy: access to justice and substantive redress. In relation to access to justice, it considers the potential of domestic courts, as well as regional and international bodies, to offer redress for human rights violations caused by climate change. In relation to substantive redress, it examines international jurisprudence on remedies and discusses its applicability in the context of climate change. Together, these discussions provide an insight into the obstacles to justice for human rights violations caused by climate change and the ways in which these may be overcome.

This article discusses recent developments related to recognition of the link between human rights and climate change in international human rights forums. It focuses on the main human rights body of the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, which has addressed climate change in three resolutions, two panel discussions and at its annual Social Forum. The analysis shows that the main challenge faced by the Human Rights Council as it seeks to address climate change is getting to grips with the relationship between international human rights law on the one hand and the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the other. The article argues that this relationship is best captured through quasi-judicial analysis, in which input from those whose human rights are affected by climate change is sought. It identifies concrete ways in which the Council could promote or enable such analysis through the adoption of a further resolution. More broadly, it demonstrates the capacity of the international human rights system to interpret laws aimed atpreventing dangerous climate change and to contribute to their operationalisation in accordance with international human rights law.

This Special Issue of the Journal of South Pacific Law, produced by the School of Law of the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila, Vanuatu, includes papers that explain how human rights obligations reinforce existing obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It also features papers that set out the potential for climate reparation claims under public international law.

Climate change poses serious threats on the enjoyment of human rights around the world, specially upon the most vulnerable members of society, hence, states have positive and negative duties when safeguarding substantive and procedural rights in this context. However, there are several legal challenges when human rights law is used to address the effects of climate change. Said challenges are mostly tangible, not only in climate change-related cases in domestic and regional human rights law situations, but also on climate change mitigation measures as a potential threat to human rights.

Resumen: El cambio climático enlaza serias amenazas al disfrute de los derechos humanos en todo el mundo, especialmente en los sectores más vulnerables de la sociedad. Esto implica que los Estados tienen deberes positivos y negativos al proteger los derechos sustantivos y procesales en este contexto. Sin embargo, existen varios desafíos legales cuando se utilizan los derechos humanos para abordar los efectos del cambio climático. Dichos desafíos son en su mayoría palpables, no sólo en los casos nacionales y regionales de derechos humanos relacionados con el cambio climático, sino también en las medidas de mitigación del cambio climático como una amenaza latente para los derechos humanos.

Existing accounts of the relationship between human rights and climate change are not explicit regarding the link between climate change and the displacement of indigenous peoples and its implications for their rights in Africa. Even if a link exists, legal redress is problematic in that an extraterritorial conduct or omission of a state within and outside Africa may feature in climate-induced displacement. Little is known on the way forward to address this challenge. The article demonstrates how climate change is linked to the displacement of indigenous peoples and how their rights are threatened in Africa. Underscoring the extraterritorial nature of activities underlying their displacement, the article examines the basis of the Kampala Convention and the way it may be applied extraterritorially to enhance the protection of indigenous peoples facing climate-induced displacement and the threat to key rights in Africa.

This Special Issue of the Journal of South Pacific Law, produced by the School of Law of the University of the South Pacific in Port Vila, Vanuatu, includes papers that explain how human rights obligations reinforce existing obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It also features papers that set out the potential for climate reparation claims under public international law.

Climate justice can mean many things – broadly, it captures the understanding that the effects of climate change are being felt most strongly by those least responsible, and that solutions to climate change must be ‘just’. However, there is no settled definition and its implications for policy are as yet unestablished.

In March 2012 the Scottish Parliament passed a motion strongly endorsing the opportunity for Scotland to ‘champion climate justice’. Scotland is the first country to do so, and climate justice is now Scottish Government policy.

However, the version of climate justice adopted by the Scottish Government is one of a ‘human rights based approach’ to climate change. This has been influenced by Irish NGO, the ‘Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice’, whose approach to climate justice can be summarised as one of climate change strategy + human rights = climate justice. This ‘Mary Robinson Formula for Climate Justice’ is increasingly accepted internationally as the meaning of climate justice for use in policy-making. It offers the potential to re-orientate and re-politicise the climate debate, providing an ethical yardstick against which to measure and aim climate policies.

This paper seeks to critique the Mary Robinson Formula – particularly as applied in Scotland. Namely, it neglects the history of the climate problem; it represents an anthropocentric and individualistic agenda which may be at odds with effective climate policies and richer understandings of climate justice, it is dependent upon a hitherto non-existent ‘human rights culture’ and carries risks of strengthening dominant sections of society (particularly lawyers).

Norwegian Abstract: Klimaendringer utgjør en alvorlig trussel mot menneskerettighetene. Likevel er menneskerettighetene marginale i klimapolitikk og debatten rundt overganger til "grønne økonomier". Samtidig er mothegemoniske tilnærminger til "grønn økonomi" også marginale. Denne artikkelen utforsker rollen menneskerettighetene kan spille i overgangen til grønne økonomier, og forsøker å forene menneskerettighetene med relevante mothegemoniske ideer i diskursen rundt overganger til grønn økonomi, spesielt "rettferdig omstilling", et krav fra den internasjonale fagbevegelsen. Ved bruk av en tverrfaglig tilnærming og kritisk teori (spesielt skillet mellom "problemløsningsteori" og kritisk teori) undersøker jeg spenningene i konseptet rettferdig omstilling, en omtvistet normativ markør som kan tolkes i tråd med både problemløsningsteori og kritisk teori. På samme vis begrenser juridiske, problemløsningstilnærminger menneskerettighetenes rolle i diskurser rundt klima og grønn økonomi. Mer kritiske, strukturelle tilnærminger – inkludert solidariske rettigheter og kosmopolitiske teorier, og menneskerettighetsbaserte tilnærminger til utvikling – kan spille en betydelig rolle i å utvide kritiske versjoner av rettferdig omstilling. Sammen kan en menneskerettighetsbasert tilnærming til rettferdig omstilling beskytte mot formalismen disse konseptene kan henfalle til, og tilby et analytisk rammeverk og grunnlag for handling til sosiale bevegelse, og krav for en rettferdig og effektiv overgang til bærekraftige samfunn.

English Abstract: Climate change presents a serious challenge to human rights. Nevertheless, human rights remain marginal in climate policy and debates around transitions to 'green economies.' Simultaneously, counter-hegemonic 'green economy' approaches are themselves marginal. This article explores what role human rights can play in transitions to green economies, seeking reconciliation of human rights with relevant counter-hegemonic strands of the transition discourse, especially 'Just Transition,' a demand from the international labour movement. Using a transdisciplinary approach and the insights of critical theory (particularly the difference between 'problem-solving' and 'critical' theories), I examine tensions in the concept of a Just Transition, a contested normative marker open to problem-solving and critical interpretations. Likewise, a problem-solving, legalistic approach restricts human rights’ role in climate and transition discourses. More critical, structural approaches – including solidarity rights and cosmopolitanist theories, and human rights-based approaches to development (HRBAs) – can play a significant role in broadening critical versions of Just Transition. Together, a human rights-based approach to Just Transition protects against the formalism both concepts can fall into, offering an analytical framework and basis for action for social movements to demand a just and effective transition to sustainable societies.

Climate change continues to dominate academic work within green/environmental politics. Indeed, there appears to be almost an inverse relationship between the lack of political leadership on tackling climate change and the growth in ever more sophisticated academic analyses of this complex and 10 multifaceted problem. There is an increasing disjunction between the growth in our knowledge and understanding of the ethical, political, economic,
sociological, cultural, and psychological aspects of climate change and the lack of political achievement in putting in place clear and binding targets, an agreed decarbonisation roadmap, and associated regulatory and policy instruments with enforcement. This gap might be taken as evidence that we do not
need more reports on climate change. To quote that most unlikely of green  politicians, Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Governor of California: ‘The debate is over. We know the science. We see the threat. And we know that the time for action is now’ (California Energy Commission 2007, p. 1). This 20 special issue focuses on a variety of ways in which climate change is conceptualised in normative political and ethical theory, and addressed in policy and regulations.

Článek se věnuje tématu aplikovatelnosti nástrojů lidských práv k ochraně před negativními dopa dy klimatické změny. Východiskem zkoumání jsou poznatky, jež byly ohledně lidskoprávních závazků států dovozeny mezinárodními soudy pro oblast ochrany životního prostředí. Autorka identifikuje hlavní obtíže, které pro uplatnění lidskoprávních nástrojů na dopady klimatické změny vyplývají z jejího specifického cha rakteru, zejména z globální povahy příčin klimatické změny dané kumulací antropogenních emisí skleníko vých plynů, pocházejících od obrovského množství aktérů státní i nestátní povahy, a přirozených zdrojů těchto emisí, a z nerovnoměrného geografického rozložení a různorodosti jejích následků. Poté se text blíže zaměřuje na dva vybrané problematické body propojování lidských práv a klimatické změny: na problém časového odstupu mezi příčinami a následky klimatické změny, který vede k úvahám o potřebě zohlednit v konceptu lidských práv zájmy budoucích generací, a na problém přeshraniční povahy dopadů vypouštění emisí skleníkových plynů; ten podněcuje k úvahám o překonání dosavadního omezení lidskoprávních závazků na území státu, respektive výkonu jeho jurisdikce. U obou problémů je zkoumán dosavadní stav jejich teore tického rozpracování a soudní interpretace, zejména s důrazem na hledání budoucích řešení.
Citace: MÜLLEROVÁ, H. Klimatická změna a snahy o rozšiřování lidských práv v čase a prostoru. Právník 7/2021, roč. 160,  s. 549-564.

Climate change: trying to extend human rights in time and space
The article focuses on the applicability of human rights instruments in the protection against negative impacts of climate change. It follows from the findings that have been confirmed by international human rights bodies on human rights commitments of states in the field of environmental protection. The author identifies the main difficulties that arise for the application of human rights instruments from the specific characteristics of climate change, especially from a global spread of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by a great number of state and non-state actors and their cumulative effects with emissions from natural sources, and from an unequal geographical distribution and diversity of its impacts. The text then concentrates in more detail on two selected problem issues of interlinking human rights and climate change: on the time lapse between the causes and consequences of climate change that leads to the need to take into account the interests of future generations within the concept of human rights, and on the extraterritorial character of impacts of greenhouse gas emissions that leads to considering that we need to surmount the current limitation of human rights obligations within the state territory resp. the state jurisdiction. In both problem issues, the current state of affairs in the theoretical elaboration and judicial interpretation are examined, especially considering the search for future solutions.

The right to a remedy is central to a human rights approach to climate change. However, a range of obstacles inhibit access to justice for victims of human rights violations caused by climate change. This article considers two elements of the right to a remedy: access to justice and substantive redress. In relation to access to justice, it considers the potential of domestic courts, as well as regional and international bodies, to offer redress for human rights violations caused by climate change. In relation to substantive redress, it examines international jurisprudence on remedies and discusses its applicability in the context of climate change. Together, these discussions provide an insight into the obstacles to justice for human rights violations caused by climate change and the ways in which these may be overcome.

This paper discusses recent developments related to recognition of the link between human rights and climate change in international human rights forums. It focuses on the main human rights body of the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, which has addressed climate change in three resolutions, two panel discussions and at its annual Social Forum. The analysis shows that the main challenge faced by the Human Rights Council as it seeks to address climate change is getting to grips with the relationship between international human rights law on the one hand and the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on the other. The paper argues that this relationship is best captured through quasi-judicial analyses, whereby input from those whose human rights are affected by climate change is sought. It identifies concrete ways in which the Council could promote or enable such analyses through the adoption of another resolution. More broadly, it demonstrates the capacity of the international human rights system to interpret laws aimed at preventing dangerous climate change and to contribute to their operationalisation in accordance with human rights norms.

A prominent theoretical analysis of moral claim rights holds that a right exists if and only if a corresponding directed obligation exists. Unfortunately, that traditional analysis has significant problems with a large number of apparent rights, including rights related to climate change. Many theorists take this limitation to be sufficient grounds to reject this traditional analysis, but eliminating the link between rights and directed obligations risks losing the essential, directional aspect of such rights. This theoretical impasse can be resolved by recognizing that the link between moral claim rights and directed obligations is normative rather than descriptive: a moral claim right ought to engender directed obligations, but it need not actually do so in order to be properly analysed as a right. Recognizing the normative link between rights and obligations not only solves a theoretical riddle, but also uncovers several practical consequences for our ethical understanding of climate change.

In present, the relationship between impact of climate change and human rights
has been recognition. This paper aimed to study the responsibilities of State and business for climate change in human rights aspects. As a result, it found that under the climate change legal regime States have obligations to mitigate their emission of greenhouse gases and, furthermore, in human rights aspects States have an obligation to protect human rights from climate change damages. In other sides, nowadays business may have responsibilities in human rights, but responsibilities for climate change remain unclear.
Moreover, in the implementation of law found that some civil societies attempt to sue
businesses to hold accountable for emission of greenhouse gases with remedies in judicial mechanism.
Finally, in non-judicial mechanism found that National Human Rights Institutions in some countries declared their roles to investigation and monitor violation of human rights related to climate change.