Cross-Embedded Relationship Nature of Human Rights-Related Treaties and Instruments with Environment-Related Sustainable Development Goals

B.  Suresh; Asha Sundaram

doi:10.17561/tahrj.v19.7225

Authors

B. Suresh Mahindra Consulting Engineers Limited
Asha Sundaram Saveetha School of Law, SIMTS Deemed University, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17561/tahrj.v19.7225

Keywords:

Sustainable Development, Human Rights, International Treaties & Instruments, UN SDGs, Environment Targets, Cross Embedded Relationship

Abstract

It is imperative that Treaties & Instruments and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) must be analysed, considering their interdependencies and mutually reinforcing nature. The paper examines the Cross Embedded Relationship (CER) nature of core Human Rights-related Treaties & Instruments (HR-T&I) in Environment-related SDGs (E-SDG) in driving a metamorphic transformation process toward inclusive economic growth, adhering to human rights values that are environmentally centric and sustainable in the true sense. Some core HR-T&I explicitly recognise CER, as observed in textual analysis. The study reveals a varied level of the Cross Embedment Relationship Index (CERI) between the provisions of core HR-T&I and E-SDG, thereby indicating the importance of human rights principles in E-SDG and the significance of environment orientation in core HR-T&I. Linking core HR-T&I provisions with E-SDG and extra-legal compliance mechanism of SDGs can produce positive synergies in realising SDG objectives.

References

AKYUZ, E. (2021) ‘The Development of Environmental Human Rights’, International Journal of Environment and Geoinformatics, 8(2), pp. 218–225. Available at: https://doi.org/10.30897/ijegeo.839725.

ALLER CELIA, ROMERO ELENA AND CARVAJAL MARTA (2018) ‘Una agenda ODS que no invisibilice ni reduzca el Derecho Humano a la Alimentación’, in Haciendo realidad el derecho a la alimentación en España. Egregius. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329545195_Una_agenda_ODS_que_no_invisibilice_ni_reduzca_el_Derecho_Humano_a_la_Alimentacion.

ARTS, K. (2017) ‘Inclusive sustainable development: a human rights perspective’, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.02.001.

ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (2019) Strengthening the Environmental Dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific: Manila, Philippines. Available at: https://doi.org/10.22617/TCS199911-2.

B. SURESH (2017) ‘A Rational Approach for Sustainability Assessment of Smart Industrial Clusters’, in International Conference on Innovative Technologies for Sustainable Built Environment. Chennai, India, India: B.S.Abdur Rahman, Crescent University, pp. 45–66.

B. SURESH, ERINJERY JOSEPH JAMES AND JEGATHAMBAL, P. (2016) ‘Indicators and Influence Factors for Sustainability Assessment of Inclusive Smart Innovation Clusters’, Journal of Geological Resource and Engineering, 4(7). Available at: https://doi.org/10.17265/2328-2193/2016.07.001.

B. SURESH (2018) Comprehensive Sustainability Assessment of Inclusive Smart Innovation Clusters in the Indian Context. Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences. Available at: https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/211301.

BOER, B.W. AND BOYLE, A. (2014) ‘Human Rights and the Environment Background Paper for the 13th Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights’, SSRN Electronic Journal [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2393753.

BOYLE, A. (2012) ‘Human rights and the environment: Where next?’, European Journal of International Law, 23(3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chs054.

DINAH, S. (2018) ‘Human Rights, Environmental Rights, and the Right to Environment’, in Environmental Rights. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315094427-21.

DULUME, W. (2019) ‘Linking the SDGs with human rights: opportunities and challenges of promoting goal 17’, Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (The), 10(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v10i1.3.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW DIMENSIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS (2015) Environmental Law Dimensions of Human Rights. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736141.001.0001.

FEIRING, B. AND KÖNIG-REIS, S. (2020) ‘Leveraging Human Rights Mechanisms to Improve SDG Follow-up and Review’.

FRASER, J. AND HENDERSON, L. (2022) ‘The human rights turn in climate change litigation and responsibilities of legal professionals’, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 40(1), pp. 3–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/09240519221085342.

GAIATASCIONI (2016) ‘SDGs and Human Rights: how to measure States’ compliance?’, European Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(3), pp. 140–150. Available at: https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2016.v5n3p140.

GORDON BROWN (ed.) (2016) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the 21st Century: A Living Document in a Changing World, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the 21st Century: A Living Document in a Changing World. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers. Available at: https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0091.

HARRINGTON, A.R. (2021) International law and global governance: Treaty regimes and sustainable development goals implementation, International Law and Global Governance: Treaty Regimes and Sustainable Development Goals Implementation. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429293320.

HUAN, Y. ET AL. (2021) ‘A method for assessing the impacts of an international agreement on regional progress towards Sustainable Development Goals’, Science of The Total Environment, 785, p. 147336. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147336.

IPCC (2014) Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability: Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by V.R. Barros et al. Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://www.citeulike.org/group/15400/article/13497155.

ITUARTE-LIMA, C. (2020) ‘Human right to a healthy environment for a thriving Earth: Handbook for weaving human rights, SDGs, and the post-2020 global biodiversity framework’, SwedBio/Stockholm Resilience… Available at: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.26598.47681.

KALTENBORN, M., KRAJEWSKI, M. AND KUHN, H. (2020) ‘Introduction: Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights’, in M. Kaltenborn, M. Krajewski, and H. Kuhn (eds) Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights. Springer International Publishing (Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights), pp. 1–9. Available at: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-30469-0_1.

KNOX, J.H. AND MORGERA, E. (2022) Human rights and the environment– The interdependence of human rights and a healthy environment in the context of national legislation on natural resources. FAO Legal. Rome: FAO. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9664en.

KNOX, J. (2018) ‘Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment’, UN Human Rights Special Procedures: Special Rapportuer, Independent Experts & Working Groups, pp. 1–25.

KOIVUROVA, T., DUYCK, S. AND HEINÄMÄKI, L. (2013) Climate change and human rights, Climate Change and the Law. Springer Netherlands. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5440-9_12.

LEIB, L.H. (2011) ‘Human rights and the environment: Philosophical, theoretical and legal perspectives’, Queen Mary Studies in International Law, 3.

LEWIS, B. (2018) ‘Environmental Dimensions of Human Rights’, in Environmental Human Rights and Climate Change. Springer Singapore, pp. 15–39. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1960-0_2.

LIMON, M. (2009) ‘Human rights and climate change: Constructing a case for political action’, in Harvard Environmental Law Review, pp. 439–476.

LOUIS HENKIN (1996) ‘Human Rights and State “Sovereignty”’, The Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, 31. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/762217?origin=crossref.

MERON, T. (2012) Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law. Oxford University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198257455.001.0001.

NIKOLAOU, N. (2019) ‘The Intersection of Human Rights Law and Environmental Law’, in Environment in the Courtroom. University of Calgary Press, pp. 72–81. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvbd8hx9.9.

OHCHR (2014) The Core International Human Rights Treaties. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/765800/files/CoreInternationalHumanRightsTreaties_en.pdf?ln=en [Accessed 14 September 2022].

OHCHR (2017) Transforming Our World: Human Rights in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/MDGs/Post2015/HRAndPost2015.pdf.

OLAWUYI, D.S. (2014) ‘Recognising the Intersections between Human Rights and the Environment in Legal Education and Training’, Asian Journal of Legal Education, 1(2), pp. 103–113. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2322005814530328.

ORELLANA, M. (2020) ‘Human Rights and International Environmental Law’, in Routledge Handbook of International Environmental Law. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003137825-28.

SCANLON, J., CASSAR, A. AND NEMES, N. (2004) Water as a human right?, Water as a human right? IUCN. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.ch.2005.eplp.51.en.

DE SCHUTTER, O. (2010) International Human Rights Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511779312.

SHELTON, D. (2006) ‘Human Rights and the Environment: What Specific Environmental Rights Have Been Recognised?’, International Covenant on Economic International Conference on Human Rights, 211(1).

SHELTON DINAH (2007) ‘Human Rights, Health and Environmental Protection : Linkages in Law and Practice’, Human Rights & International Legal Discourse, 1(1).

SPIJKERS, O. (2020) ‘The Sustainable Human Right to Water as Reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals’, Utrecht Law Review, 16(2), pp. 18–32. Available at: https://doi.org/10.36633/ulr.560.

SWEENEY Michael (2021) ‘SDG 14 and Children’ s Human Rights’, (September).

THE DANISH INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (2008) The Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Sustainable Development Goals. Copenhagen K.

THE DANISH INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RIGHTS (2017) The Human Rights Guide to the Sustainable Development Goals. Copenhagen K. Available at: https://sdg.humanrights.dk/en.

THE INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION (2015) Sustainable Development Goals - A SRHR CSO guide for national implementation..

THE OFFICE OF THE LEGAL COUNSEL IN COLLABORATION WITH THE COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AND DEPARTMENT ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH (2022) Series on Human Rights and Health 7. Environment and Climate Change A Human Rights-based Approach.

UN (1972) ‘Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 1972’, United Nations Environment Programme, UN Doc., A, p. 77. Available at: http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=97&ArticleID=1503.

UN COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (CESCR) (1999) General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant). Available at: undocs.org/en/E/C.12/1999/5 [Accessed 14 September 2022].

UN COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (CESCR) (2000) General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (Art. 12 of the Covenant). Available at: undocs.org/en/E/C.12/2000/4 [Accessed 14 September 2022].

UN COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (CESCR) (2002) General Comment No. 15: The Right to Water (Arts. 11 and 12 of the Covenant). Available at: undocs.org/en/E/C.12/2002 [Accessed 14 September 2022].

UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (CRC) (2006) General Comment No. 7: Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood. Available at: undocs.org/en/CRC/C/GC/7/Rev.1’ [Accessed 20 September 2022].

UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (CRC) (2013) General comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights. Available at: undocs.org/en/CRC/C/GC/16 [Accessed 20 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/RES/217(III) [Accessed 14 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1965) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Available at: http://undocs.org/en/A/RES/2106(XX) [Accessed 18 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1966a) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Available at: treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1976/03/1976032306-17AM/Ch_IV_04.pdf [Accessed 18 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1966b) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Available at: treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1976/01/1976010309-57PM/Ch_IV_03.pdf [Accessed 18 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1979) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Available at: treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1981/09/1981090305-18AM/Ch_IV_8p.pdf [Accessed 18 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child. Available at: treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume1577/v1577.pdf [Accessed 18 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1990) International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/RES/45/158 [Accessed 18 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2006) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Available at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/UNTS/Volume2515/v2515.pdf [Accessed 14 September 2022].

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2011a) Analytical study on the relationship between human rights and the environment. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/HRC/19/34 (Accessed: 20 September 2022).

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2011b) Human rights and the environment. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/HRC/RES/16/11 (Accessed: 20 September 2022).

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/RES/70/1 (Accessed: 14 September 2022).

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2017) Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/RES/71/313 (Accessed: 19 September 2022).

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE (HRC) (1982) CCPR General Comment No. 6: Article 6 (Right to Life). Available at: undocs.org/en/HRI/GEN/1/Rev.1 [Accessed 20 September 2022].

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE (HRC) (2019) General comment No. 36, Article 6 (Right to Life). Available at: undocs.org/en/CCPR/C/GC/36 [Accessed 20 September 2022].

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (2008) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights, Okechukwu Ibeanu. Available at: undocs.org/A/HRC/7/21 [Accessed: 19 September 2022].

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (2009) Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the relationship between climate change and human rights. Available at: undocs.org/en/A/HRC/10/61 [Accessed: 14 September 2022].

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (2013) Report of the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, John H. Knox - Mapping report. Available at: http://undocs.org/A/HRC/25/53 [Accessed: 14 September 2022].

UNEP (2016) ‘A contribution to the global follow-up and review in the 2016 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on the work of the United Nations Environment Programme’, (June), pp. 1–13. Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/10554UNEAinputstotheHLPF2016(Final).pdf.

VIVERO POL, J.L. AND SCHUFTAN, C. (2016) ‘No right to food and nutrition in the SDGs: Mistake or success?’, BMJ Global Health, 1(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000040.

WERNHAM, M. (2016) ‘Mapping the Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Rights of the Child’, Unicef, pp. 1–125. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/media/60231/file.