Brazilian Amazon’s Opening to Mining Operations and the Threat to the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
On 22 August 2017, Brazilian president Michel Temer issued a decree ending the protected status of a vast Amazon region known as Renca—an acronym for ‘National Reserve of Copper and...
Guatemala: Building a Water Law from Below
Guatemala, the Land of Eternal Spring, is one of the most ecologically diverse nations on the planet and is endowed with plenty of water resources. However, the uneven distribution of...
Seeking Environmental Justice: Coal, Campaigns and Climate Change (with Nick Stump)
Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, what is the future of environmental justice and human rights in the United States and the world?...
Utilising The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea To Resolve the Pacific Islands Predicament
Island nations located in the midst of the Pacific Ocean unfortunately find themselves at the frontline in the global battle against climate change. The survival of the Islanders and the...
Human Rights, the Environment and Mining: Holding Transnational Corporations Accountable
Litigation that tests the division between corporate and state human rights obligations, and the synergies between environmental and human rights law, is currently underway in Peru. The Tintaya-Antapaccay mine in...
Kiobel v. Cravath: An Example of How a Little-Known U.S. Law can be Used as a Pre-Litigation Tool Overseas
When Esther Kiobel—who believes Shell collaborated with Nigerian authorities to commit gross human rights abuses, including the murder of her husband—could not find justice by suing Shell in U.S courts,...
Environmental Human Rights in the Trump Era: Modes of Resistance and Reform
The ecological ramifications of the Trump administration may well prove catastrophic. Climate change denial and problematic fossil fuel positions featured prominently in the President’s campaign; post-election, far-right nominations and policy...
Foreign Legal Assistance applications: a strategy to advance accountability for transnational human rights abuses
In 2014, 40 million liters of toxic mining waste spilled from the Buenavista del Cobre copper mine into the Bacanuchi and Sonora Rivers, contaminating the water source of over 25,000...
Indigenous Peoples and Land Demarcation in Brazil: A Never-Ending Process?
From 7 to 17 March 2016, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, visited three Brazilian states and the Federal District in order to assess and...
Environmental Destruction: A Shift in the International Criminal Court’s Priorities
A recent policy document announced by the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has reiterated the importance of focusing on the prosecution of individuals who have committed atrocities...
Extending Caste Discrimination Liability to Multi-National Corporations in India: Lessons From Coca-Cola in Kerala
The Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Act of 1989 (hereafter, ‘the Act’) in India guarantees an institutional framework which, among other things, prevents the rampant public and cultural...
Sustainable Conservation: The Rights-Based Way to Save Africa’s Rainforests
A new report by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) shows that people living in Africa’s Congo Basin face widespread and intensifying human rights abuses in the name of conservation. Addressing...
