Grappling with Danger: Some Lessons from Urgenda v The Netherlands
The landmark judgement of the Dutch Supreme Court in Urgenda Foundation v State of the Netherlands has inspired climate cases across the globe, where litigants argue that States are required...
Youth Led Litigation Highlights the Intergenerational Impact of Climate Change
The impact of dangerous climate change on our children and future generations has been highlighted by campaigns around the world such as Fridays for Future, which grew out of Greta...
Queensland Court to consider Australia’s first ‘climate change’ human rights case
As an increasing number of cases worldwide link climate change and human rights (for instance, see here), the first litigation of this kind in Australia is proceeding before Queensland’s Land...
Indemnity clauses in Mining Development Agreements in Zambia
Zambia has signed indemnity agreements with numerous multinational corporations investing in her mining sector. The agreements enable subsidiaries of international firms to be exempted from liability for environmental pollution that...
Jammu and Kashmir Media Policy 2020: A Veil Covering Freedoms
Through an order dated 15th May 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) issued a revised Media Policy 2020 (hereinafter “the Policy”). The Media Policy...
Kabwe mine: taking rights seriously in a toxic city
Mining activities in Zambia, while economically beneficial (accounting for roughly 70 per cent of GDP), have produced negative effects, not least pollution to the environment. The scale of industrial pollution...
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...
How Our Clicks Cost the Planet: The Internet, Climate Change, and Human Rights (with Michael Oghia)
Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide have forced huge portions of our lives online, from education to work, with important human rights ramifications. But there’s an argument to be made that the Covid-19...
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...
Environmental protection of children’s right to life: ICCPR General Comment 36
As the indivisibility of human rights and environmental protection solidifies as a norm of international human rights law, children are increasingly claiming their right to environmental protection under domestic constitutions...
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...
