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...
Ireland: Historic Victory for Environmental Campaigners
In a landmark decision, the Irish Supreme Court has unanimously quashed what it termed the Irish Government’s ‘excessively vague’ plan to tackle climate change. The Court held that the plan...
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...
Climate Fund Case: Climate Litigation reaches the Brazilian Supreme Court
Hailed as a milestone in Brazilian climate change litigation, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court has recently ordered public hearings in a lawsuit brought by four political parties on...
Protecting Indigenous Communities in Cases of Climate-forced migration
On Indigenous People’s Day in 2018, the United Nations pushed for the protection of indigenous populations’ human rights in cases of social, political, economic, and climate-forced migration. It fell short...
The Urgenda case: human rights obligations to reduce carbon emissions
The Netherlands’ supreme court has ruled that the state has ‘direct legal obligations’ to reduce carbon emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020, compared to 1990 levels...
Teitiota v New Zealand: A Step Forward in the Protection of Climate Refugees under International Human Rights Law?
On 7 January 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) issued a landmark ruling in which it recognised, for the first time, that forcibly returning a person to a place...
Environmental Human Rights Litigation in Ireland
Recently, the Irish High Court handed down judgment in the case of Friends of the Irish Environment v The Government of Ireland and Others or ‘Climate Case Ireland’. The case...
The Green New Deal: On Systemic Justice and the Limits of a Human Rights Framework
The Green New Deal is a United States (U.S.) Congress resolution that proposes a comprehensive plan to address climate change. At the same time, the resolution connects the dots between...
No Ordinary Lawsuit
In late May, a U.S. Appeals court heard oral arguments in a U.S. government effort to stop a trial in a climate case some have referred to as “the trial...
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...
