Irish Supreme Court quashes climate mitigation plan: environmental rights caught between redundancy and vagueness
On 31 July 2020, the Irish Supreme Court annulled the government’s climate mitigation plan. A grand chamber of – exceptionally – seven judges ruled unanimously that the plan did not...
Where are the human rights in the green economy transition?
The emergence of a green economy during the COVID-19 crisis presents a significant opportunity for the commercialisation of low-carbon solutions that catalyses an important emerging market, incentivising investors and governments...
Using Human Rights to Protect the Environment in Kenya
Kenya’s Environment and Land Court recently awarded the inhabitants of Owino-Uhuru village in Mombasa, damages worth 1.3 billion Kenyan Shillings and further directed that 700 million be dedicated towards an...
The Kenyan Tea Workers’ Case: Evaluating the Impediments to Holding MNCs Accountable for the Actions of their Subsidiaries
Recently, a human rights complaint was registered against Unilever at the United Nations by a group of Kenyan tea plantation workers from its Kericho plantation facility. The matter pertains to...
BHP to be Dammed?
On 5 November 2015, a devastating mudslide following the collapse of the Fundao Dam tore through Mariana, Brazil, destroying entire cities, decimating the environment and destroying historic, cultural and religious...
The Dilution of Environment Impact Assessment Norms in India
Environment Impact Assessment is a process used to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts of any project. It aims to predict environmental impact at an early stage in project...
Horizontality and the Constitutional Right to Equality– Recent Developments in the Jurisprudence of the German Federal Constitutional Court
Two recent decisions by the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht – BVerfG) shed new light on the horizontal effects of the constitutional right to equality in private law relationships. The...
Historic South African Silicosis Class Action Settlement Approved
On 26 July 2019, the High Court approved a settlement between 20 goldmining companies operating in South Africa (including African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold)...
Multinational Royal Dutch Shell summoned for insufficient efforts in combatting climate change
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...
UK Supreme Court’s Vedanta Case – Hope for Zambian Communities Affected by Mining Pollution
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...
Gabriel Resources v. Romania: Local Residents as Third Parties in Investor-State Dispute Settlement?
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...
The Supreme Court of the United States denies absolute immunity to the International Finance Corporation in human rights case
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...
