RIGHTS-BASED LITIGATION IN TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE: CAN THE ECtHR BE EFFECTIVE IN PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

Öz

The impacts of climate change have emerged as one of the most pressing challenges facing the global community today. As a result, the protection of human rights in the context of climate change has become an increasingly important issue, particularly in light of the potential for climate change to exacerbate existing human rights challenges. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has emerged as a key legal institution in the protection of human rights in Europe. However, the question remains: Can the ECtHR be effective in protecting human rights in the context of climate change? This research article aims to examine the potential for litigation in the ECtHR as a means of protecting human rights in the context of climate change after establishing nexus between the climate change phenomenon and human rights. Through a comprehensive analysis of environmental case law and legal frameworks, this article explores the extent to which the ECtHR has the potential to engage with pending climate cases and future litigation in this area. The article concludes that, despite the fact that technical legal hurdles, both procedural and substantive, must be overcome during the review phases, the Court may still have significant potential to address climate cases. Furthermore, this research highlights the importance of utilising litigation as a means of protecting human rights in the context of climate change for the sake of the role that the ECtHR can play in promoting greater awareness of the human rights implications of climate change.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Climate change
• human rights
• environmental case law
• rights-based climate litigation
• European Court of Human Rights

İklim değişikliği ile mücadelede hak temelli davalar: İklim değişikliği bağlamında insan haklarını korumak için İHAM etkili bir merci olabilir mi?

Öz

İklim değişikliğinin etkileri, günümüzde küresel toplumun karşı karşıya olduğu en acil sorunlardan biri olarak ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu nedenle, özellikle iklim değişikliğinin mevcut insan hakları zorluklarını şiddetlendirme potansiyeli dikkate alındığında, iklim değişikliği bağlamında insan haklarının korunması giderek daha önemli bir konu haline gelmiştir. İnsan Hakları Avrupa Mahkemesi (İHAM), insan haklarının Avrupa’da korunması için kilit bir yargısal kurum olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. O halde, İHAM, iklim değişikliği bağlamında insan haklarının korunması için etkili bir merci olabilir mi? Bu araştırma makalesi, iklim değişikliği olgusu ile insan hakları arasında bağ kurduktan sonra, İHAM’ın iklim davalarıyla başa çıkma potansiyelini, iklim değişikliği bağlamında insan haklarını koruma aracı olarak, incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çevre hukuku içtihadı ve ilgili hukukî çerçevelerin kapsamlı bir analizi yoluyla, bu makale Strazburg Mahkemesi’nin derdest iklim başvuruları ve gelecekteki başvurularla ne ölçüde ilgilenme potansiyeline sahip olduğunu araştırmaktadır. Makale, hem usûl hem de esas bakımından inceleme aşamalarında karşılaşılacak teknik hukukî engellerin aşılması gerektiği gerçeğine rağmen, Mahkeme’nin iklim davalarını ele alma konusunda hâlâ önemli bir potansiyeli olabileceği sonucuna varmaktadır. Ayrıca, bu araştırma, İHAM’ın iklim değişikliğinin insan hakları üzerindeki etkileri konusunda daha fazla farkındalığın teşvik edilmesinde oynayabileceği rol adına, iklim değişikliği bağlamında insan haklarını korumanın bir yolu olarak dava açmanın önemini vurgulamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• İklim değişikliği
• insan hakları
• çevre hukuku içtihadı
• hak bazlı iklim davaları
• İnsan Hakları Avrupa Mahkemesi

Kaynakça

1. S. Adelman, ‘Human Rights in the Paris Agreement: Too Little, Too Late?’ (2018) 7(1) Transnational Environmental Law
2. J. H. Albers, ‘Human Rights and Climate Change: Protecting the Right to Life of Individuals of Present and Future Generations’(2017) 28, Security and Human Rights
3. O. M. Arnardóttir ‘The ‘Procedural Turn’ Under the European Convention on Human Rights and Presumptions of Convention Compliance’ (2017) 15 (1) International Journal of Constitutional Law
4. S. Atapattu, ‘Climate Change, Human Rights, and COP 21: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back or Vice Versa?’ (2016) 17 (2) Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
5. C. W. Backes and G. A. van der Veen ‘Urgenda: The Final Judgment of the Dutch Supreme Court’ (2020) 17 Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law
6. D. Bodansky, J. Brunnée and L. Rajamani, ‘Kyoto Protocol’, International Climate Change Law (Oxford University Press, 2017)
7. K. Bouwer and J. Setzer, ‘Climate litigation as climate activism: what works?’ (The British Academy, CoP 26 Briefings, 2020)
8. A. Boyle, ‘Human Rights and the Environment: Where Next?’ (2012) 23 (3) European Journal of International Law

9. L. Carnwath ‘Climate Change Adjudication after Paris: A Reflection’ (2016) 28 (1) Journal of Environmental Law
10. S. Cassotta et al. ‘Chapter 3: Polar Regions.’ in Hans-Otto Pörtner et al. (eds) IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (IPCC, 2019).
11. G. M. Colombo and L. Wegener ‘The Value of Climate Change-Impacted Litigation: An Alternative Perspective on the Phenomenon of “Climate Change Litigation”’(Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, Working Paper, No. 12, October 2019)
12. J. Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (Oxford University Press, 9th edn, 2019)
13. P. Christoff, ‘Cold climate in Copenhagen: China and the United States at COP15’ (2010) 19(4) Environmental Politics
14. K. S. Davies-Vollum, D. Raha, and D. Koomson ‘Climate Change Impact and Adaptation: Lagoonal Fishing Communities in West Africa’ in Walter Leal Filho et al. (eds) African Book Climate Change Adaptation (Springer, 2021).
15. P. Delaney, ‘Which is a domestic human rights protection mechanism in Colombia, see Legislating for Equality in Colombia: Constitutional Jurisprudence, Tutelas, and Social Reform’ (2008) 1 The Equal Rights Review
16. J. Dewaele, ‘The Use of Human Rights Law in Climate Change Litigation: An Inquiry into the Human Rights Obligations of States in the Context of Climate Change; and the Use of Human Rights Law in Urgenda and Other Climate Cases’ (Gobal Campus Europe, EMA Awarded Thesis, 2018-2019)
17. K. Dzehtsiarou, European Consensus and the Legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
18. M. Feria-Tinta ‘Climate Change Litigation in the European Court of Human Rights: Causation, de and Other Key Underlying Notions’ 2021(1) 3, Europe of Rights & Liberties/Europe des Droits & Libertés
19. E. Fisher, E. Scotford and Emily Barritt, ‘The Legally Disruptive Nature of Climate Change’ (2017) 80 (2) The Modern Law Review
20. P. Friedlingstein and S. Solomon, ‘Contributions of past and present human generations to committed warming caused by carbon dioxide’ (2005) 102(31) PNAS
21. J. H. Gerards and L. R. Glas, ‘Access to justice in the European Convention on Human Rights system’ (2017) 35(1) Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
22. E. Grant ‘International Human Rights Courts and Environmental Human Rights: Re-Imagining Adjudicative Paradigms’ (2015) 6(2) Journal of Human Rights and the Environment
23. D. Harris et al., Harris, O’Boyle, and Warbrick: Law of the European Convention on Human Rights, (Oxford University Press, 4th edn, 2018)
24. J. Hartmann and M. Willers, ‘Protecting Rights in Climate Change Litigation before European Courts’ (SSRN, 2021)
25. L. R. Helfer, ‘Consensus, Coherence and the European Convention on Human Rights’ (1993) 26(1) Cornell International Law Journal
26. C. Hilson ‘The margin of appreciation, domestic irregularity and domestic court rulings in ECHR environmental jurisprudence: Global legal pluralism in action’ (2013) 2(2) Global Constitutionalism
27. J. Hovi, D. F. Sprinz, and G. Bang, ‘Why the United States did not become a party to the Kyoto Protocol: German, Norwegian, and US perspectives’, (2010) 18(1) European Journal of International Relations
28. IPCC Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change (J.T. Houghton et al. [eds.], Cambridge University Press, 1996)
29. J. H. Knox, ‘Linking Human Rights and Climate Change at the United Nations’ (2009) 33 Harvard Environmental Law Review
30. N. Kobylarz, ‘The European Court of Human Rights, an Underrated Forum for Environmental Litigation’ in Helle Tegner Anker and Birgitte Egelund Olsen (eds.) Sustainable Management Of Natural Resources: Legal Instruments And Approaches (Intersentia, 2018)
31. I. Leijten, ‘Human rights v. Insufficient climate action: The Urgenda case’, (2019) 37(2) Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
32. J. Lin ‘The First Successful Climate Negligence Case: A Comment on Urgenda Foundation v. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment’ (2015) Climate Law
33. B. Mayer ‘Human Rights in the Paris Agreement’, (2016) 6 Climate Law
34. P. Mahoney ‘Marvellous Richness of Diversity or Invidious Cultural Relativism?’ (1998)19(1) Human Rights Law Journal
35. S. McInerney-Lankford, ‘Climate Change and Human Rights: An Introduction to Legal Issues’ (2009) 33(2) Harvard Environmental Law Review
36. M. E. Middaugh, ‘Linking Global Warming to Inuit Human Rights’, (2006) 8, San Diego International Law Journal
37. P. Minnerop and F. Otto, ‘Climate Change and Causation Joining Law and Climate Science on the basis of Formal Logic’ (2020) SSRN Electronic Journal
38. A. Mowbray, The Development of Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights, (Oxford University Press: Hart Publishing, 2004)
39. R. Mwebaza, ‘Climate Change and the International Human Rights Framework in Africa’, in Rose Mwebaza and Louis J. Kotzé (eds), Environmental Governance and Climate Change in Africa: Legal Perspectives, (Institute for Security Studies, Monograph 167, 2009)
40. Norwegian Institution for Human Rights, ‘Climate and Human Rights’ (Norwegian National Human Rights Institution, 19 May 2021)
41. B. Ohdedar, ‘Litigating Climate Change in India and Pakistan: Analysing Opportunities and Challenges’ in Ivano Alogna, Christine Bakker, and Jean-Pierre Gauci (eds) Climate Change Litigation: Global Perspectives (Brill-Nijhoff, 2021)
42. L. Omuko, ‘Applying the Precautionary Principle to Address the “Proof Problem” in Climate Change Litigation’, (2016) 12(1) Tilburg Law Review
43. J. Peel and H. M. Osofsky, ‘A Rights Turn in Climate Change Litigation?’ (2018) 7 (1) Transnational Environmental Law
44. J. Peel and H. M. Osofsky, Climate Change Litigation: Regulatory Pathways to Cleaner Energy (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
45. T. Pfrommer et al., ‘Establishing causation in climate litigation: admissibility and reliability’ (2019) 152 Climatic Change
46. I. Roagna, Protecting the right to respect for private and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights-Council of Europe human rights handbooks (Council of Europe, 2012)
47. C. Roschmann, ‘Climate Change and Human Rights’ in Oliver C. Ruppel, Christian Roschmann and Katharina Ruppel-Schlichting (eds) Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance - Volume I: Legal Responses and Global Responsibility (Nomos, 2013)
48. S. Roy and E. Woerdman Dr ‘Situating Urgenda v the Netherlands within comparative climate change litigation’, (2016) 34(2) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law
49. A. Savaresi, ‘Inter-State Climate Change Litigation: “Neither a Chimera nor a Panacea”’ in Ivano Alogna, Christine Bakker, Jean-Pierre Gauci (eds), Climate Change Litigation: Global Perspectives (BRILL, 2021)
50. A. Savaresi ‘Plugging the enforcement gap: The rise and rise of human rights in climate change litigation’ (2021)77 Questions of International Law
51. A. Savaresi, ‘The Paris Agreement: a new beginning?’ (2016) 34(1) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law
52. A. Savaresi and J. Auz, ‘Climate Change Litigation and Human Rights: Pushing the Boundaries’ (2019) 9(3) Climate Law
53. J. Setzer and R. Byrnes, ‘Global trends in climate change litigation: 2020 snapshot’ (Grantham Research Institute, Policy Report, 2020)
54. J. Setzer and C. Higham ‘Global trends in climate change litigation: 2021 Snapshot’ (Grantham Research Institute, Policy Report, 2021)
55. J. Setzer and C. Higham ‘Global trends in climate change litigation: 2022 Snapshot’ (Grantham Research Institute, Policy Report, 2022)
56. J. Setzer and L. C. Vanhala ‘Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance’ (2019) Wiley
57. A. Swain et al. Climate Change and the Risk of Violent Conflicts in Southern Africa (Global Crisis Solutions, 2011)
58. V. Tumonis, ‘Legal Realism & Judicial Decision-Making’ (2012) 19(4) Jurisprudence UN Environment, Global Environment Outlook – GEO-6: Healthy Planet, Healthy People (Paul Ekins et al. [eds], Cambridge University Press, 2019)
59. S. Varvastian, ‘The Human Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment in Climate Change Litigation’ (2019) 9 MPIL Research Paper Series
60. C. Voigt, ‘The Paris Agreement: What is the standard of conduct for parties?’ (2016) 26 Questions of International Law
61. M. Wewerinke-Singh ‘Remedies for Human Rights Violations Caused by Climate Change’ (2019) 9 Climate Law
62. L. Wildhaber et al. ‘No Consensus on Consensus’ (2013) 33 Human Rights Law Journal
63. Internet Resources
64. P. Clark et al., ‘Climate change and the European Court of Human Rights: The Portuguese Youth Case’ (EJIL:Talk!, 6 October 2020), accessed 18 September 2021
65. R. Hales and B. Mackey, ‘The ultimate guide to why the COP26 summit ended in failure and disappointment (despite a few bright spots)’ (The Conversation, 14 November 2021) accessed 28 November 2022
66. C. Heri, ‘The ECtHR’s Pending Climate Change Case: What’s Ill-Treatment Got to Do with It?’ (EJIL:Talk!, 22 December 2020), accessed 21 September 2021
67. I. Leijten, ‘The Dutch Climate Case Judgment: Human Rights Potential and Constitutional Unease’ (Verfassungsblog, 19 October 2018) accessed 1 September 2021
68. O. W. Pedersen, ‘The European Convention of Human Rights and Climate Change – Finally!’ (EJIL:Talk!, 22 September 2020) accessed 19 September 2021