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LEGALE, Siddharta; DESCHAMPS, Luiza; CAUSANILHAS, Tayara. Inter-american climate Law. Rio de Janeiro: NIDH, 2024. ISBN: 978-65-00-98911-3
This book is based on the memorial presented by the Inter-American Human Rights Clinic of the NIDH-UFRJ to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in response to the request for an advisory opinion from Colombia and Chile on “Climate Emergency and Human Rights”.There are two parts: the first theoretical and the second practical, which is subdivided into eight blocks of questions on: (i) Duties of prevention and the Paris Agreement; (ii) Right to access to information and transparency for mitigation and adaptation; (iii) Protection and rights of children; (iv) Access to justice and duty to consult; (v) Protection of women, indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants; (vi) Cooperation between States and international organizations in relation to the duty of reparation; (vii) Most vulnerable territories: aribbean, islands and coastal regions; and (viii) Displacement of people due to the climate emergency.
The answer to each of the blocks of questions is based on the treaties, international declarations, principles of international environmental law and taking into account the material from international bodies, mainly the IPCC reports, as well as the reports, opinions and cases of the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights.
SUMMARY
PREFACE – EDUARDO MANUEL VAL
FOREWORD – CAIO BORGES
GENERAL ASPECTS
PART 1 – THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS CLIMATIZING THE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM
1.1 THE OAS AND THE RIGHT TO INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT
1.2 THE ACHR AS A TRANSNATIONAL CONSTITUTION AND ITS ROLE IN DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE BALANCE
1.3 THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AS A TRANSNATIONAL PUBLIC MINISTRY (Defensoría del Pueblo) AND THE CLIMATE DEFENCE BY REDESCA
1.4 THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AS A TRANSNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THE ADVISORY OPINION N. 23/2017: FROM ANINTER-AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW TO AN INTER-AMERICAN CLIMATE LAW
1.5 TOWARDS AN INTER-AMERICAN CLIMATE CONVENTIONALITY BLOCK: FROM THE RIGHT TO PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT TO THE RIGHT TO INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT
1.5.1 Climatizing the Inter-American Conventionality Block
1.5.2 The core of the Inter-American Climate Convention Block
1.5.3 The main reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
1.6 PARTIAL
CONCLUSION PART 2 – ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS
2.1 DUTIES OF PREVENTON AND THE PARIS AGREEMENT (QUESTION A) A. Regarding State obligations derived from the duties of prevention and the guarantee of human rights in relation to the climate emergency A.1 What is the scope of the State’s duty of prevention with regard to climate events caused by global warming, including extreme events and slow onset events, based on the obligations under the American Convention, in light of the Paris Agreement and the scientific consensus which recommend that global temperatures should not increase beyond 1.5°C? A.2 In particular, what measures should States take to minimize the impact of the damage due to the climate emergency in light of the obligations established in the American Convention? In this regard, what differentiated measures should be taken in relation to vulnerable populations or based on intersectional considerations?
2.2 RIGHT OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND TRANSPARENCY FOR MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION TO THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY (QUESTION B) B. Regarding State obligations to preserve the right to life and survival in relation to the climate emergency in light of science and human rights B.1 What is the scope that States should give to their obligations under the Convention vis-à-vis the climate emergency B.2 Pursuant to State obligations under the American Convention, to what extent does access to environmental information constitute a right the protection of which is necessary to guarantee the rights to life, property, health, participation, and access to justice, among other rights that are negatively affected by climate change?
2.3 RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (QUESTION C)
C.1 What is the nature and scope of the obligation of a State Party to adopt timely and effective measures with regard to the climate emergency in order to ensure the protection of the rights of children derived from its obligations under Articles 1, 4, 5, 11 and 19 of the American Convention? C.2 What is the nature and scope of a State Party’s obligation to provide children with significant and effective means to express their opinions freely and fully, including the opportunity to initiateor, in any other way, to participate in any administrative or judicial proceedings concerning prevention of the climate change that represents a threat to their lives?
2.4 ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND THE RIGHT TO PRIOR, FREE AND INFORMED CONSULTATION (QUESTION D) D Regarding State obligations arising from consultation procedures and judicial proceedings owing to the climate emergency Based on Articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention, and taking into account that scientific research has indicated that there is a limit to the amount of greenhouse gases that we can continue to emit before reaching dangerous and irreversible climate change, and that we could reach this limit within the current decade D.1 What is the nature and scope of a State Party’s obligation in relation to the establishment of effective judicial remedies to provide adequate and timely protection and redress for the impact on human rights of the climate emergency? D.2 To what extent should the consultation obligation take into account the consequences of an activity on the climate emergency or the emergency projections?
2.5 ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS, WOMEN, INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AN AFRICAN AFRO-DESCENDANT COMUNITIES (QUESTION E)
E Regarding the Convention-based obligations of prevention and the protection of territorial and environmental defenders, as well as women, indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendant communities in the context of the climate emergency E.1 What measures and policies should States adopt to facilitate the work of environmental human rights defenders? E.2 What specific considerations should be taken into account to guarantee the right of women human rights defenders to defend a healthy environment and the territory in the context of the climate emergency? E.3 What specific considerations should be taken into account to guarantee the right to defend a healthy environment and the territory based on intersectional factors and differentiated impacts, inter alia, of indigenous peoples, peasant farmer communities, and Afro-descendant persons in the context of the climate emergency? E.4 With regard to the climate emergency, what type of information should the State produce and publish in order to establish the capability to investigate different offenses committed against defenders, including, reports of threats, kidnappings, murders, forced displacements, gender-based violence, and discrimination? E.5 What are the measures of due diligence that the States should take into account to ensure that attacks and threats against environmental defenders in the context of the climate emergency do not go unpunished?
2.6 COOPERATION BETWEEN STATES, INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND REPARATIONS (QUESTION F) F.a Taking into account that the climate emergency affects the entire world, and that obligations to cooperate and also to provide redress arise from the American Convention and other international treaties (1st Part)
2.7 VULNERABLE TERRITORIES: THE CARIBBEAN, ISLANDS AND COASTAL AREAS (QUESTION F) F.b Taking into account that the climate crisis has greater effects on certain regions and populations, including the Caribbean, island and coastal countries and territories of our region and their inhabitants (2nd Part)
2.8 DISPLACEMENT OF PEOPLE DUE TO CLIMATE EMERGENCY (QUESTION F) F.c Considering that one of the impacts of the climate emergency is to intensify the factors that lead to human mobility – migration and forced displacement (3rd part) CONCLUSION
