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Multinational Royal Dutch Shell summoned for insufficient efforts in combatting climate change

Pieter Gillaerts - 11th July 2019

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

Citizens and organizations around the world increasingly take their concerns regarding climate change to the courtroom. Such climate change or environmental (public interest) litigation so far has primarily been directed against governments, such as the case of Urgenda v. the Dutch State. The recent Dutch case Milieudefensie et al. v. Royal Dutch Shell seems to mark […]

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OxHRH

UK Supreme Court’s Vedanta Case – Hope for Zambian Communities Affected by Mining Pollution

Mwai Daka - 23rd May 2019

Access to Justice| Business & Human Rights

The recent UK Supreme Court case, Vedanta Resources Plc and another v Lungowe and others, affirms the principle that UK companies operating abroad owe a duty of care to those affected by the actions of the subsidiary in the foreign jurisdiction. The Supreme Court held that the ‘foreign jurisdiction’, in this case, Zambia, is the […]

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OxHRH

Gabriel Resources v. Romania: Local Residents as Third Parties in Investor-State Dispute Settlement?

Lisa Kadel and Christian Schliemann - 19th April 2019

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

The Canadian corporation Gabriel Resources wanted to establish Europe’s largest gold mine in Rosia Montana, Romania. Local villagers and Romanian civil society resisted the corporation and the state, due to perceived disregard for their human rights and environmental concerns. After a long battle they prevented the project. As a response Gabriel Resources sued Romania for […]

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The Supreme Court of the United States denies absolute immunity to the International Finance Corporation in human rights case

Sergio Giuliano - 1st April 2019

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

Last February 27th, a 7-1 majority of the United States Supreme Court held in Jam et al. v. International Finance Corp. that the IFC –the branch of the World Bank Group that lends to the private sector– does not enjoy absolute immunity from suit in U.S. domestic courts. The case is a landmark decision in […]

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OxHRH

Gloucester Resources and Its Radical Implications for Indigenous Environmental Justice

Sakshi Aravind - 18th March 2019

Business & Resources & Environment & Development| Environmental Rights

The decision by New South Wales Land and Environment court, Australia, rejecting the appeal by Gloucester Resources for the proposed Rocky Hill coal mine in Hunter’s Valley, has gathered public interest for all the right reasons (Gloucester Resources v Minister of Planning “Gloucester Resources”). The decision emphasized the incompatibility between new coalmines and Australia’s obligations […]

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OxHRH

Human Rights, Criminal Law, and Rural and Native Communities in Peru

Enlil Iván Herrera Pérez - 16th November 2018

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

Recently, the Constitutional Court of Peru issued a judgment in the case 7009-2013-PHC/TC, concerning a writ of habeas corpus in favor of two members of the Tres Islas Native Community, who were being prosecuted for the crime of rape against underage victims, contrary to the Criminal Code which punishes as rape any sexual relations with […]

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OxHRH

IPCC Special Report and Human Rights

Alex May - 9th November 2018

Business & Resources & Environment & Development| Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (‘IPCC’) recently released its Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming above 1.5 oC. (Monday 8thOctober 2018). A human rights perspective is useful for understanding what this means and has legal potential for forcing states to take action. The Report The IPCC was asked by the 2015 Paris […]

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OxHRH

A Timely Intervention: Dutch Court declares that the State has Positive Duties under the European Convention on Human Rights to tackle Climate Change

Jamie McLoughlin - 23rd October 2018

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

The Court of Appeal in the Netherlands has just issued a landmark judgment concerning environmental human rights and climate change. It has found the Dutch State to be in breach of its positive obligations under Articles 2 and 8 of the ECHR by failing to adopt a more ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The judgment […]

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OxHRH

Courts and Climate Change II: Appeals Court Upholds Landmark Ruling in Dutch Climate Case

Anneloes Hoff - 18th October 2018

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

The Hague Court of Appeals has upheld its human rights-based landmark ruling in the historic Climate Case that orders the Dutch government to accelerate its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The decision came one day after the world’s leading climate scientists called for “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” in order […]

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OxHRH

Justice Kennedy’s Mixed Environmental Legacy Turns Tragic

Nicholas Stump - 25th September 2018

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a 1988 Reagan appointee, will leave behind a mixed environmental law legacy. Best known to the public as a crucial swing vote on issues regarding same-sex marriage and abortion rights, Kennedy’s influence on environmental law was no less impactful, as he sided both for and against ecological and public health […]

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OxHRH

State Policy or Individual Right: The Recent Development of Environmental Protection in China

Zijun Zhao - 21st August 2018

Business & Resources & Environment & Development

In late June 2018, the Chinese State Council released the three-year action plan to ‘win the battle for blue skies‘, which, among other recent legislative and judicial development in environmental protection, is an illustration of the Constitutional Amendment on 11 March 2018, which includes ‘to direct and administer […] environmental development’ as one of the […]

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