Abstract
World leaders, Environment enthusiasts, and Climate change activists have been voicing their thoughts at the state of environmental degradation for the better half of the 21st century. It is extremely clear that the deterioration of the environment raises serious concerns regarding Human rights violations. The right to a clean and sustainable environment[1] which goes hand in hand with the Right to life and personal liberty enshrined in Article 21[2] under the Indian Constitution. With the emergence of the industrial revolution to the advent of modern technology, our focus of has been shifted from advancing science to protecting the earth we live on. This paper will delve into the gross human rights violations that happens due to the adverse effects on the environment. It will also talk about corporate responsibility in managing the environment and will put emphasis on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that corporations fail to uphold. The paper would talk about the core Human Rights treaties that the States actively engage in to adopt preventive measures to mobilize available resources in order to avert foreseeable human rights harms resulting from climate change. At the conclusion of the paper, we will try to highlight solutions where the protection of the environment comes in hand with protection of Human rights.
Key Words: Human Rights, Environment, Climate change, Corporate Responsibility, Environmental Impact Assessment, Treaties.
Introduction
In late 2018, Greta Thunberg marched in front of her country’s parliament and made the world aware of the drastic climate crisis affecting the people. Almost 8 years later, no world leader has made significant changes to stop the world from melting under the heat of the environmental problems. They cite the pandemic as an excuse and then the rehabilitation of the people in the society after but what they fail to realize is that the pandemic will not be the most prominent cause for the deterioration of the world’s population but the industrial waste, excessive carbon emissions and the harmful radiation that’s still affecting some parts of the world will be the root of millions of deaths in our near future. Corporations call this business- we call it a human rights violation.
When we mention human rights, we speak in terms of war, genocide, and mass immigration but it’s also important to focus on the current climate crisis when talking about these rights. The world has shifted on it’s axis since the Industrial revolution and now the melting ice caps in the Arctic are not the sole concern of environmental degradation. Human rights violations and Environmental damage are intrinsically linked, climate change directly impacts fundamental rights like the right to a clean and stable environment. Multinational corporations who are inadvertently the biggest contributors to climate deterioration are also the ones responsible for it’s negative side effects caused to humans which in turn infringe upon their right to live in harmony.
It’s time we pool our resources not to revolutionize our lives but to save it, to stop the destruction of our earth before it’s too late. This paper will attempt to delve into the reasons for environmental harm and the abuses of human rights that many companies partake in. It is anticipated that by learning about the link between human rights violations and environmental damage, this paper will contribute to advancing climate justice and the greater well- being of Humans.
[1]Written statement of Vanuatu, Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, ICJ, https://www.icj-cij.org/node/204376
[2] India Consti. art. 21.