Calibrating the Human Rights Committee for Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development

Abstract

In this paper, the term sustainable development is used to indicate environment-friendly development. Here a comparative case study is made between Bangladesh and Paraguay to comprehend the difference an international forum can offer in mitigating anthropocentric environmental degradation arising from unsustainable development. From Bangladesh’s perspective, this paper finds that individual victims have limited access to justice to challenge environmental harm or risk. Whereas in the case of Paraguay, victims of unsustainable development after exhaustion of national forum can avail remedy from the Human Rights Committee (HRC) constituted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The “views” of the HRC in the Portillo Cáceres and others v. Paraguay1 communication recognizing “the State’s obligation to prevent environmental degradation to ensure the right to life in a healthy environment” – has unfolded a new avenue for individual access to environmental justice through human rights mechanism. The individual communication, State-toState complaint, and inquiry – provided by the HRC might be instrumental to challenge the degradation of the anthropocentric environment impairing the human rights guaranteed by the ICCPR. This paper argues that instead of creating new international environmental rights or courts, the use of the HRC might offer accessible justice in terms of the cost and complexity when national remedies are inadequate or exhausted against the unsustainable development risking human rights within a State party.