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

Pieter Gillaerts - 11th July 2019

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

Lisa Kadel and Christian Schliemann - 19th April 2019

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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Gloucester Resources and Its Radical Implications for Indigenous Environmental Justice

Sakshi Aravind - 18th March 2019

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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Business and Human Rights: A Tale of Two Duties

Sandhya Drew - 5th December 2018

With effect from 29 March 2017, the French Loi de la Vigilance introduced into the Commercial Code a  duty on large companies to carry out a risk assessment down their supply chains in relation to human rights.  It bears many similarities to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in the UK but there […]

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

Enlil Iván Herrera Pérez - 16th November 2018

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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IPCC Special Report and Human Rights

Alex May - 9th November 2018

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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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

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

Anneloes Hoff - 18th October 2018

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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Justice Kennedy’s Mixed Environmental Legacy Turns Tragic

Nicholas Stump - 25th September 2018

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

Zijun Zhao - 21st August 2018

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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