Abstract
In this chapter, the authors look at the guidelines International Human Rights and Environment provides for the state with respect to the appropriate structure of its water laws. Moreover, it discusses the relevant aspects of the human right to water and sanitation, as well as the conceptual connection between human rights and the environment. In addition, the report emphasizes the importance of the principles of international law for ensuring the right management of water resources as a guarantee of the human right to water and sanitation.
TopEnvironment As A Sine Qua Non-Condition For Human Rights
There is unanimous recognition on the part of the doctrine that environmental deterioration can mean the violation of a series of fundamental rights such as life, health, the right to water and sanitation, to food, to adequate housing, to private and family life, self-determination and even property. In this way, it is understood that environmental damage hinders States in their task of guaranteeing the full and effective enjoyment of human rights. Therefore, a first approach alludes to the environment as a sine qua non requirement for the enjoyment of other human rights cataloged as substantive, which has been expressed in numerous international instruments and by different bodies for the promotion and protection of human rights, which are analyzed below (Orakhelashvili, 2018).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Polluter Pays Principle: The polluter pays principle stands for the idea that “the environmental costs of economic activities, including the cost of preventing potential harm, should be internalized rather than imposed upon society at large.” All issues related to responsibility for environmental remediation costs and compliance with pollution control regulations involve this principle.
Public Participation and Transparency: Identified as necessary conditions for “accountable governments...industrial concerns,” and organizations generally, public participation and transparency are presented by UNEP as requiring “effective protection of the human right to hold and express opinions and to seek, receive and impart ideas...a right of access to appropriate, comprehensible and timely information held by governments and industrial concerns on economic and social policies regarding the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment, without imposing undue financial burdens upon the applicants and with adequate protection of privacy and business confidentiality,” and “effective judicial and administrative proceedings.” These principles are present in environmental impact assessment, laws requiring publication and access to relevant environmental data, and administrative procedures.
Transboundary Responsibility: Defined in the international law context as an obligation to protect one’s environment and prevent damage to neighboring environments, UNEP considers transboundary responsibility at the international level as a potential limitation on the sovereign state’s rights. Laws that limit externalities imposed upon human health and the environment may be assessed against this principle.
Prevention: The concept of prevention can perhaps better be considered an overarching aim that gives rise to a multitude of legal mechanisms, including prior assessment of environmental harm, licensing or authorization that set out the conditions for operation and the consequences for violation of the conditions, as well as the adoption of strategies and policies. Emission limits and other product or process standards, the use of best available techniques, and similar techniques can all be seen as applications of the concept of prevention.
Precautionary Principle: One of the most commonly encountered and controversial principles of environmental law, the Rio Declaration formulated the precautionary principle: To protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of complete scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. The principle may play a role in any debate over the need for environmental regulation.
Equity: Defined by UNEP to include intergenerational equity—“the right of future generations to enjoy a fair level of the common patrimony”—and intragenerational equity—“the right of all people within the current generation to fair access to the current generation’s entitlement to the Earth’s natural resources”—environmental equity considers the present generation under an obligation to account for long-term impacts of activities and to act to sustain the global environment and resource base for future generations. Pollution control and resource management laws may be assessed against this principle.