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The Report
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Through its consultative status with the U.N. Economic and Social Council, Earthjustice has worked extensively to establish and protect the right to a healthy environment as a basic human right through its annual submission of an Environmental Rights report.
Every Year
As a sampling -- but only a sampling -- of situations occurring in this past year, this report illustrates the interdependence of human rights and the environment and shows repeated and increasing recognition of a human rights-based approach to environmental protection. Such recognition demonstrates that a right to a clean and healthy environment, whether as a separate, codified right or as the result of repeated application of other human rights to environmental harms, is emerging as an important component of international law.
Making the Connection
The relationship between environmental problems and human rights calls for a holistic treatment of these issues. Therefore, international, governmental and non-governmental institutions dedicated to protecting human rights must recognize the connection and take steps to provide mechanisms to address the human rights implications of environmental problems. As a world leader in the protection of human rights, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights should set the pace for such recognition and, further, guarantee the right to a clean and healthy environment.
Through its annual submission, Earthjustice seeks to add to the literature that informs leaders, both within the UN structure and without, of the important linkage between human rights and the environment, and the status of that relationship each year.
