Editorial - Human Rights and the Planet: the future of environmental human rights in the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

On 5 October 2020 a high-level international conference, 'Human Rights for the Planet', was held at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. The conference was organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the first Member State of the Council of Europe to make environmental protection a priority theme during its Presidency of the Committee of Ministers. The conference gathered renowned practitioners and academic experts in the field of international environmental law and human rights; the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; the Secretary General of the Council of Europe; the ECtHR's Presidents and judges; ambassadors; politicians and decision-makers; as well as a record number of online participants comprising civil society, human rights and environment defenders, academics, students and concerned citizens. The conference aimed to facilitate a debate about European human rights law in the face of the challenge posed by climate change, loss of biodiversity, depletion of natural resources and pollution. This debate is extended into this Special Issue (SI) of the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment and by the drafting of the Strasbourg Principles of International Environmental Human Rights Law (Strasbourg Principles). The articles featured here reflect the main themes of the conference. They address novel and complex legal issues that are emerging in the theory and practice of environmental human rights law.