jurisdiction, without infringing the sovereignty or diminishing the obligations of host states
under the Covenant.”105 Furthermore it has required that “[t]o comply with their international
obligations in relation to Article 12, States Parties have to respect the enjoyment of the right to
health in other countries, and to prevent third parties from violating the right in other
countries.”106 As stated in the OHCHR Report, “irrespective of the additional strain climate
change-related events may place on available resources, States remain under an obligation to
ensure the widest possible enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights under any given
circumstances.”107 The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in General
Comment 16 finds that States should “[e]nsure access to effective remedy for children whose
rights have been infringed by a business enterprise acting as a private party or as a State
agent.”108 Access to justice and effective remedy is of particular importance to the youth
Petitioners.
The Maastricht Principles articulate the current state of international law regarding ETOs,
as set out above, including the obligation for states to avoid causing harm. Principle 13 states
that:
States must desist from acts and omissions that create a real risk of
nullifying or impairing the enjoyment of economic, social and
cultural rights extraterritorially. The responsibility of States is
engaged where such nullification or impairment is a foreseeable
result of their conduct. Uncertainty about potential impacts does
not constitute justification for such conduct.109
In the climate context, Principle 13 demonstrates that action needs to be taken now to
avoid the foreseeable risk of more severe impacts and resulting from the Carbon Majors’
business activities and operations.
Through the current efforts of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment
in promoting and reporting on the realization of human rights obligations relating to the
enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, there is recognition that
international human rights law imposes certain procedural and substantive obligations on States
105
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Statement on the Obligations of States
Parties Regarding the Corporate Sector and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2011, at ¶¶ 5-6.
106
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Culutral Rights, General Comment 14: The Right to the
Highest Attainable Standard of Health, Twenty-Second Session, August 11, 2000, at ¶ 39. It has made similar
statements in other General Comments, for example United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Culutral
Rights, General Comment 15: The Right to Water, Twenty-Ninth Session, January 20, 2003, at ¶ 33.
107
Human Rights Council, Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human rights and Reports
of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General, Fifth Session, January 15, 2009, at ¶ 77.
Available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/climatechange/docs/A.HRC.10.61_AUV.pdf.
108
General Comment 16, supra note 33 at 4.
109
O. De Schutter, A. Eide, A. Khalfan, M. Orellana, M.Salomon, & I. Seiderman, Commentary to the Maastricht
Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 34
HUMAN RIGHTS Q. 1084, 1112 (2012).
27
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