d) Principle 26: As described in Principle 26, States should influence non-state
actors where they are in a position to do so to take measures towards the
realization of human rights.
e) Principle 37: “States must ensure the enjoyment of the right to a prompt,
accessible and effective remedy before an independent authority, including, where
necessary, recourse to a judicial authority, for violations of economic, social and
cultural rights. Where the harm resulting from an alleged violation has occurred
on the territory of a State other than a State in which the harmful conduct took
place, any state concerned must provide remedies to the victim.” 242
Plan B additionally notes that Principle 13 of the Rio Declaration says, “States shall
develop national law regarding liability and compensation for victims of pollution and other
environmental damage.”243 Relatedly, the IACtHR recently explained that a component of a
State’s duty to protect the right to life includes that States should “establish an effective judicial
system capable of investigating, punishing and repairing any deprivation of life by state agents of
private actors.”244
II.
State duties and obligations arising from International Climate Change Law
In its recent Advisory Opinion, the IACtHR, explained that recognizing the right to a
healthy environment as a human right, creates an obligation for States to protect the human rights
impacted by a degraded environment. In doing so it explained that “another consequence of the
interdependence and indivisibility between human rights and environmental protection is that, in
the determination of these State obligations, the Court can make use of the principles, rights and
obligations of international environmental law, which as part of the international corpus iuris
contribute decisively to set the scope of the obligations derived from the American Convention
in this area[.]”245
The UNFCCC has near-universal membership, and entered into force in March 1994. Its
overall objective, as set forth in Article 2, is to “achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas
242
Maastricht Principles Drafting Group brief, at pgs. 8-11 (citing ETO CONSORTIUM, MAASTRICHT PRINCIPLES ON
EXTRATERRITORIAL OBLIGATIONS OF STATES IN THE AREA OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS,
Principles 3, 4, 25, 26, 37, available at http://www.etoconsortium.org/nc/en/main-navigation/library/maastrichtprinciples/?tx_drblob_pi1%5BdownloadUid%5D=23).
243
U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,
principle 13, U.N. Doc. A/Conf.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol. 1), annex I (Aug. 12, 1992).
244
Solicitada por la República de Colombia, Medio Ambiente y Derechos Humanos, Opinión Consultiva OC-23/17
Inter-Am. Ct. H.R., supra note 64, at ¶ 109 (internal citation omitted) (unofficial translation) (original: “Asimismo,
los Estados deben adoptar las medidas necesarias para crear un marco normativo adecuado que disuada cualquier
amenaza al derecho a la vida; establecer un sistema de justicia efectivo capaz de investigar, castigar y reparar toda
privación de la vida por parte de agentes estatales o particulares; y salvaguardar el derecho a que no se impida el
acceso a las condiciones que garanticen una vida digna, lo que incluye la adopción de medidas positivas para
prevenir la violación de este derecho.”).
245
Id. at ¶ 55 (internal citation omitted) (unofficial translation) (original: “otra consecuencia de la interdependencia e
indivisibilidad entre los derechos humanos y la protección del medio ambiente es que, en la determinación de estas
obligaciones estatales, la Corte puede hacer uso de los principios, derechos y obligaciones del derecho ambiental
internacional, los cuales como parte del corpus iuris internacional contribuyen en forma decisiva a fijar el alcance de
las obligaciones derivadas de la Convención Americana en esta materia[.]”).
51
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