An official English translation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ landmark Advisory Opinion (OC-32/23) has been published. The Opinion was given in Spanish earlier this month in response to a request by Colombia and Chile, addressing the legal obligations of States in the face of the climate emergency. The Opinion affirms the centrality of environmental protection to the enjoyment of human rights and sets out a framework for State responsibility.
Amongst other things the Court:
- recognised the right to a healthy climate as a human right deriving from the right to a healthy environment (§§298-304);
- recognised nature itself holds legal rights, and affirmed that States are under positive obligations to implement measures to protect, restore and regenerate ecosystems (§§279-286)
- identified that the obligation to prevent irreversible damage to the climate qualifies as a jus cogens – or peremptory – norm of international law (§§287-294);
- analysed State duties of mitigation and adaptation, and linked these duties to the protection of rights under Articles 4 (life), 5 (personal integrity), 8 (judicial protection), and 26 (progressive development) of the Convention (§§323–363);
- affirmed the transboundary application of human rights in this context, and so the extraterritorial application of human rights to those not resident in a State’s territory (§551);
- recognised that climate change directly and indirectly causes forced migration and found that States must adopt appropriate measures to protect freedoms of residence and movement, which may include the provision of international protection (§§414-434).
Two Matrix members were involved in the proceedings. Toby Fisher acted in a team representing two NGOs, Kyklos and Global Action Plan. Anirudh Mathur acted in a team representing the Coalition of Caribbean Civil Society Organisations, supported by the Global Strategic Litigation Council.
The English translation of the Court’s advisory opinion can be found here.