The Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment: International Protection

Abstract

The right to a clean and healthy environment (the exact formulations differ) is yet to be recognized as an independent right in the international bill of rights. The right is not mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) or in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966). Nevertheless, discussions revolving around international recognition of the right to a clean and healthy environment have continued since the early 1970s, when the UN Declaration on Environment (Stockholm Declaration (1972) and Rio Declaration (1992)) stated that “[m]an has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being…“(Principle 1) (Principle 1, UN Conference on the Human Environment, ‘Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment’). Moreover, both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child ((adopted 20 November 1989, in force 2 September 1990) 1577 UNTS 3) make reference to an adequate condition of the environment (see article 12 of the ICESCR and article 24 of the CRC, in particular). The jurisprudence of human rights monitoring bodies to other treaties, like the Human Rights Committee, has started to recognize the application of human rights in environmental contexts. The right has also been recognized at the regional level, in a great number of constitutions, and at the sub-constitutional level. Considering the extent of international and in particular regional human rights treaties that refer to the environment, their case-law and the latest discussions on the matter, it seems that today, the question to ask about the human right to a clean and healthy environment is not whether the right should be acknowledged internationally, but how.