INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS

Human rights and the environment are deeply intertwined; human rights impacts can flow from the failure of environmental governance and be a cause of environmental harm. At the same time, having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment has been formally recognized as a human right by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR)75 and the United Nations General Assembly,76 including its importance for safeguarding other human rights.

Three procedural rights recognized under international human rights law—access to information, public participation, and access to justice—are critical for effective environmental governance and support improved environmental outcomes.77 These procedural rights are also linked to substantive human rights, including the obligation of states to provide clean, healthy, and sustainable environments.78 Access to information is important for effective environmental governance because it:79

• Enables meaningful public participation in decision-making that affects the environment and communities;

• Strengthens decisions by increasing opportunities for communities to understand the basis for decisions and by enabling them to respond with additional relevant information;

• Strengthens decision-making and builds trust between decision-makers and communities;

• Supports transparency and accountability amongst decision-makers, which in turn reduces corruption and mismanagement of resources and thus increases opportunities for sustainable natural resource management;

• Ensures compliance with environmental regulations;

• Helps communities understand the legal obligations of private companies and build trust between communities and companies;

• Supports the watchdog function played by many CSOs.

Effective compliance and enforcement strategies include operational (or project) grievance mechanisms (OGMs) that are easily accessed by affected stakeholders, including workers and NGOs acting on behalf of nature. A project-based OGM is a mechanism established by the project proponent at the project level that can be used by affected people to address concerns and issues about the project.80 OGMs should seek to resolve concerns promptly, using a transparent consultative process that is culturally appropriate and readily accessible to the community. It should be at no cost or risk to the complainant and should not be seen as impeding access to judicial or administrative remedies.

75  Human Rights Council resolution, The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, 48/13, A/HRC/48/L.23/Rev.1 (8 October 2021), available from https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/48/13.

76  UN General Assembly resolution, The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, A/RES/76/300 (28 July 2022), available from https:// digitallibrary.un.org/record/3983329?ln=en.

77  WWF (2022) Access to Information in the Lower Mekong, forthcoming

78  Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, A/HRC/37/59 (24 January 2018), available at https://digitallibrary.un-.org/record/1474985?ln=en

79  WWF (2022) Access to Information in the Lower Mekong, forthcoming.

80  World Bank Environmental and Social Framework, World Bank, 2017, p. 11 and IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, IFC, 2012, p. 15 environment such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) and the UN Global Compact.

The UNGPs are a statement on the relationship between business and human rights, recognizing that while governments have the primary duty to protect and promote human rights, companies have a responsibility to respect human rights. This responsibility is addressed by 31 non- binding principles relating to the corporate responsibility to respect human rights.

The UN Global Compact is a non-binding pact designed to encourage sustainable and socially responsible business practices. It incorporates ten principles covering human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption, and is consistent with the UNGP (see Box 5). The principles are derived from various sources, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

Box 5: The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact

Human Rights

Principle 1: Support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.

Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labor

Principle 3: Uphold freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.

Principle 4: Eliminate of all forms of forced and compulsory labor.

Principle 5: Abolish child labor.

Principle 6: Eliminate discrimination in respect to employment and occupation.

Environment

Principle 7: Support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.

Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.

Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

ANTI-CORRUPTION

Principle 10: Work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.