Humanizing international environmental law

Environmental defenders are the category of human rights defenders most at risk. In carrying out their work, they face threats to their rights to life and security, as well as to their freedoms of expression and association, their right to access to justice and more. In the face of this dire reality, the fact that state obligations to protect environmental defenders are scattered across different international law instruments fosters not only a complex legal landscape but also an urgent practical challenge. This article asserts that international environmental and human rights laws are convergent. Accordingly, the very definition of an environmental defender and states’ obligations towards such a person under the Aarhus Convention and the Escazú Agreement must be interpreted in light of the European and American conventions on human rights. Juxtaposing these instruments, as implemented by their respective mechanisms, the article clarifies who an environmental defender is and what duties states bear towards this category of rights holder, including in the highly salient context of civil disobedience. After the much-lauded ‘greening’ of human rights law, this article, therefore, argues for the ‘humanizing’ of international environmental law, pursuant to the principle of systemic integration under international law

Convention · Environmental law · Fundamental rights · Human rights · International human rights law · International law · Right to property · Climate Change and Geoengineering · Environmental law and policy · International Law and Human Rights