Human Rights
Is the UN able to establish a right for healthy environments? ABA urges US to vote for yes
The Palace of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. Photo by SAPhotog/Shutterstock.
In a late February briefing, Nadia Ahmad introduced a group of ABA members and Capitol Hill staffers to Resolution 48/13—a measure adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council that for the first time recognizes having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.
Ahmad, a member of Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice Council worked with a group of colleagues to promote The resolutionThe proposal for, which was made by Costa Rica, the Maldives and Slovenia, as well as Slovenia, Switzerland, Morocco, Slovenia, Slovenia, and Slovenia. After most of the U.N. council’s 47 member states passed it in October, it will now go to the U.N. General Assembly for further consideration.
Nadia Ahmad sits on the Council of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. Photo courtesy Nadia Ahmad.Ahmad hopes that the United States will support Resolution48/13 when it comes up to a vote in April or may. The United States wasn’t a member at the time of the resolution’s adoption, but According to ReutersIt has expressed concern that recognition of new rights could weaken traditional civil and political rights.
“The U.S. needs to be able to show itself as a world leader on environmental rights and climate rights, and by supporting this resolution, it will be on the right side of history,” says Ahmad, a visiting associate professor at Yale Law School and an associate professor at Barry University School of Law.
ABA supports the right to a healthy and safe environment
In November, ABA President Reginald Turner sent a letterto the Biden administration, applauding its efforts to advance environment justice and asking it to support Resolution 48/13.
“Resolution 48/13 supports efforts to deal with the interconnected environmental crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution,” Turner wrote in the letter, which was addressed to Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “This or a similar resolution may soon be considered in the U.N. General Assembly, where the United States has a vote.
“Support for a right to a healthy environment would demonstrate the U.S. commitment to international cooperation with other countries, including our European allies, low-lying island States and other developing countries.”
Turner pointed out that ABA Adopted a resolution at its annual meeting in August that advances environmental justice, including through support for legislation and policies “that reflect the right of every human being to dignity and a clean and healthy environment.”
He also stated that 15 U.N. agencies, over 1,300 nongovernmental organisations, and more than 50 business organizations, as well as the U.N. Human Rights High Commissioner, and the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, had signed declarations of support for the right of a healthy environment during the past year.
A growing movement that has historical precedent
John Knox, a Wake Forest University School of Law Professor, is closely working with Ahmad. He was the first U.N. special rapporteur and independent expert to examine the relationship between environmental rights and human rights. In his 2018 final reportHe recommended that the U.N. General Assembly recognize the human right of a healthy and sustainable environment.
He contends that this is not a new concept—at least 100 countries have recognized the right in their constitutions and at least 50 others have recognized it in regional treaties. The right has been included in the constitutions of several states, including New York and the United States.
Knox says that, while the U.N. resolution may not be legally binding, it is indicative of a growing movement to use rights-based approaches to address environmental issues around the globe.
“To a remarkable degree, rights-based approaches are being litigated and enforced,” he says. “It’s important for lawyers working in both the environmental space and human rights space to be aware of these developments because increasingly, they are one of the most important ways that environmental protection is being reconceived.”
Also see:
ABAJournal.com: “ABA observers will share their takeaways from the UN climate change conference in Glasgow”
