CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ LINKING HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT … recognition of the right to a healthy environment. 2 The link between environmental protection and human rights can be seen in several provisions of the Stockholm Declaration. 3 T he Preamble, for example, states that both the natural and man-made environment is: ‘essential to his [man’s] well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights – even the right to life itself’. 4 Furthermore, Principle 1 of the Stockholm Declaration proclaims that: ‘Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life , in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and he bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations .’ 5 [Emphasis added] Even though the Stockholm Declaration is not a binding instrument (as it only constitutes so-called soft law ) 6 it provides for an important linkage between the environment and human rights at the international level. Nevertheless, this formulation recognizes the fundamental right of man to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, but not a right to a healthy environment per se . Hence, many were disappointed that the language used did not express clearly that a new environmental right was being manifested. 7 Almost twenty years after the Stockholm Conference, in Resolution 45/94 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recalled the language of the Stockholm Conference, where it stated that: ‘All individuals are entitled to live in an e nvironment adequate for their health and well-being .’ 8 [Emphasis added] In addition, the resolution called for enhanced effort by the Member States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to ensure a better and healthier environment. 9 In the four decades since the Stockholm Conference, international legal instruments and decisions of human rights bodies have reestablished and elaborated the links that were introduced by these first declaratory statements. 10 In the author’s view there are therefore two main ways to approach the question of whether a human right to a healthy environment exists. Either one looks at the existing 2 The first written suggestion that there should be a human right to a healthy environment came from Rachel Carson, in 1962, published in Silent Spring where she wrote: ‘[i]f the Bill of Rights contains no guarantees that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or by public officials, it is surely only because our forefathers, despite their considerable wisdom and foresight, could conceive of no such problem’. See in CARSON, Rachel: Silent Spring . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962, pp. 12–13. 3 DÉJEANT-PONS, Maguelonne and PALLEMAERTS, Marc: Human Rights and the environment. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2002, p. 11. 4 Stockholm Declaration. Preamble, para 1. Available online at: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/ Default.asp?documentid=97&articleid=1503 (accessed 21 October 2022). 5 Ibid ., Principle 1. 6 DAMOHORSKÝ, Milan and others: Právo životního prostředí. [ Environmental law] 3 rd ed. Prague: C. H. Beck, 2010, p. 114. 7 TURNER, Steve: The Human Right to a Good Environment – The sword in the stone. Non-State Actors and International Law , Vol. 4 (2), 2004, p. 278. 8 United Nations General Assembly resolution: Need to ensure a healthy environment for the well-being of individuals.14 December 1990, A/RES/45/94, para. 1. Available online at: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/ res/45/a45r094.htm (accessed 16 October 2022). 9 Ibid., para. 2. 10 SHELTON, Dinah. Human Rights, Health and Environmental Protection: Linkages in Law and Practice. Human Rights and International Legal Discourse , Vol. 1 (1), 2007, p. 10. SCHRAM, Gunnar G.: Human Rights and the Environment. Nordic Journal of International Law , Vol. 61–62, p. 142.

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