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Norway’s Supreme Court dismisses claim based on the right to a healthy environment and allows new oil exploration in the Arctic

by Renata Politi, Universal Rights Group and Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group R2E, Thematic human rights issues

On 22 December 2020, Norway’s Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the closely followed climate lawsuit based on the constitutional right to a healthy environment, known as the Norwegian Arctic Oil case . The appeal was brought to the Supreme Court by environmental groups that disputed an administrative decision, based on a 2013 legislation, which authorised the administration to grant licences to oil …

The right to a healthy environment gives rise to a growing wave of climate change litigation

by Renata Politi, Universal Rights Group and Louis Mason, Universal Rights Group R2E, Thematic human rights issues

In an amicus curiae brief submitted in the Norwegian Artic Oil case currently pending before the Norwegian Supreme Court, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment , David R. Boyd, and UN Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes , Marcos A Orellana, argued that “the justiciability of the right to a healthy environment empowers citizens and civil society, strengthening democratic decision-making and fostering accountability for political decisions. Access to justice is itself a fundamental human right, including in the …

How UN recognition of the right to water and sanitation has informed efforts to secure universal recognition of the right to a healthy, clean and sustainable environment

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group Human rights implementation and impact, Human rights institutions and mechanisms, R2E, Special Procedures, Thematic human rights issues

At the end of July, the world celebrated the tenth anniversary of the universal recognition of the right to water and sanitation by the UN General Assembly (GA). To mark the occasion the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Léo Heller, issued a statement (which can be read here) in which he hailed this …

Cómo el reconocimiento de la ONU del derecho al agua y saneamiento ha informado esfuerzos para asegurar el reconocimiento universal del derecho a un medio ambiente sano , limpio y sostenible

by Marc Limon, Executive Director of the Universal Rights Group R2E, Thematic human rights issues

A finales de Julio, el mundo celebró el décimo aniversario del reconocimiento universal del derecho al agua y saneamiento por la Asamblea General de la ONU (AG). Para marcar la ocasión, el Relator Especial de la ONU sobre los derechos a agua potable limpia y saneamiento, Léo Heller, lanzó un pronunciamiento (que puede leer aquí) en el cual aclamó este …

Time to act – recognising the right to a healthy environment

by Marcos A. Orellana, Director of the Environment and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch and Geneva By invitation, R2E

Global recognition of the right to a healthy environment is long overdue. There are opportunities emerging to do so, and this would give crucial support to threatened environmental activists. In March 2016, armed intruders battered down the door of the house where Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres, 44, was staying and killed her. By then, Cáceres, co-founder of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, …