Memorandum for the Petitioners | 70
D.
Majors
Carbon
Respondent
responsibility to respect and protect
human rights under international
law and agreements
6.9. Respondent Carbon Majors are acting unlawfully. They have a
293
legal responsibility to respect, including through proactive measures,
and protect294 the human rights of the Filipino people, as described in the
United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
(“ UNGPs” ) and international jurisprudence. The UNGPs should be
interpreted in accordance with international environmental law and the
international law governing climate change, including the precautionary
principle and polluter pays principles,295 and with national laws and doctrines,
» 296
like the Oposa Doctrine of “intergenerational responsibility.
C
6.10. Under the UNGPs, business enterprises are required to commit
at the highest level to respect human rights, undertake human rights due
diligence to identify and avoid potential adverse impacts , and provide remedy
in the event of adverse harm.
6 .11. More specifically for the respondent Carbon Majors, the
responsibility to respect and protect human rights entails an obligation on the
part of the respondents not to contribute to human rights impairments,
infringements, abuses, and/or violations arising from climate change; as well
as prevent, mitigate, and accept responsibility for the adverse human rights
impacts linked to their activities, as directed by the Interpretive Guidance of
the UNGPs.
r
6.12. As explained in the Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae , “[t]he
Interpretive Guidance 291 confirms that an enterprise can contribute to an
adverse human rights impact through the legal sale of its products. The
evidence demonstrates that the respondents have, through their operations and
products, caused the emissions of GHGs in such significant quantities as to
Cover Letter to Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae Briefs, supra note 287.
Idciting Kalina and Lokono Peoples v. Suriname, Inter-Am. Ct. H. R., Judgment (Merits, Reparations,
and Costs), para. 224 (25 November 2015 ), available at
http://wwwxorteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_309_ing. pdf ( last accessed on 12 September 2019);
Urbaser S.A. & Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia, Bilbao Biskaia Ur Partzuergoa v. The Argentine
Republic, ICSID Case No. ARB/07/26, Award, para . 1999 (08 December 2016); Case against New TV
S.A . L . and Karma Mohamed Tahsin al Khayat, STL- 14-05/PT/AP/ ARI26.1, Decision on Interlocutory
Appeal Concerning Personal Jurisdiction in Contempt Proceedings, Special Tribunal for Lebanon, para. 46
(02 October 2014).
295
Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae, supra note 50, p. 65.
296
e.g. Oposa, et al. v. Factoran, Jr. et al., G.R. No. 101083, 30 July 1993, also available at
https://www.Iawphil.net/judjuris/ juril 993/jull 993/gr_ l 01083_1993 . html ( last accessed on 12 September
2019).
297
Italics and emphasis supplied
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