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Human Rights Law

Right to a healthy environment

2015

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Human Rights, Environmental Justice, And The North-South Divide, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2014

Human Rights, Environmental Justice, And The North-South Divide, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


From the Ogoni people devastated by oil drilling in Nigeria to the Inuit and other indigenous populations threatened by climate change, communities disparately burdened by environmental degradation are increasingly framing their demands for environmental justice in the language of environmental human rights. However, some scholars have expressed skepticism about the environmental human rights project. First, they remind us that the human rights governance capacity of many states in the global South has been compromised by the neoliberal economic reforms imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as by trade and investment agreements. Second, they question …


Environmental Justice, Human Rights, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2014

Environmental Justice, Human Rights, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez

From the Ogoni people devastated by oil drilling in Nigeria to the Inuit and other indigenous populations threatened by climate change, communities disparately burdened by environmental degradation are increasingly framing their demands for environmental justice in the language of environmental human rights. Domestic and international tribunals have concluded that failure to protect the environment violates a variety of human rights (including the rights to life, health, food, water, property, and privacy; the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands and resources; and the right to a healthy environment). Some scholars have questioned the utility of the human rights …