Panel III: A Case Study: The Human Right to A Clean Environment
November 4, 9:00 AM-10:30 AM (Eastern Time)
About this panel:
In July 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. The UNGA calls upon states, international organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders to “scale up efforts” to ensure a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all. It took five decades of advocacy to elevate the right to a human right of universal recognition. The distinguished panel of experts will walk us through the journey and highlight possible lessons for gaining recognition of a universal human right to claim innocence.
About the speakers
Moderator
Laurence R. Helfer
Laurence R. Helfer is the Harry R. Chadwick, Sr. Professor of Law and co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at Duke University. He is a permanent visiting professor at iCourts: Center of Excellence for International Courts at the University of Copenhagen, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2014. Helfer has authored more than 100 scholarly publications, including four co-authored books, two edited volumes, and numerous articles in peer review law and political science journals. He has lectured widely on his diverse research interests, which include international law and institutions, human rights (including LGBT rights), and international adjudication and dispute settlement. Helfer was nominated by the United States and elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee for 2023 to 2026. He recently completed a four-year term as co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law.
Panelists
John H. Knox
John H. Knox is the Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law at Wake Forest University. He graduated from Stanford Law School with honors in 1987, and worked at the U.S. Department of State and at a private law firm before joining academia in 1998. From 2012 to 2018, he served as the first UN independent expert, then the first special rapporteur, on the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. In 2018, in his final report to the Human Rights Council, he presented Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment. He is on the board of the Universal Rights Group and on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law.
Sébastien Duyck
Sébastien Duyck is a senior attorney for the Climate & Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and is the campaign manager for the human rights & climate change portfolio. He is based in Geneva. His work focuses on promoting the integration of human rights and public participation in climate governance and strengthening accountability for climate harms. Prior to joining CIEL, Sébastien worked as a consultant on related issues for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Carbon Market Watch, the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Research Programme (CCAFS), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Marc Limon
Marc Limon worked as a diplomat (rank of counsellor) at the United Nations Human Rights Council from the body’s establishment in 2006 until the end of 2012. This included participating in negotiations on the institution-building package (which determined how the Council would operate), on the Council’s mid-term review, and on a wide-range of thematic and country-specific issues over the course of twenty-on regular sessions and nineteen special sessions. Between 2006 and 2012, Marc prepared reports for and interacted with all UN human rights treaty bodies, drafted national reports under the Universal Periodic Review, and organized five Special Procedure country missions. He has first-hand knowledge of the international human rights system, how it works, its weaknesses, and the challenges it faces to improve its effectiveness. Marc was also a lead negotiator during the COP15 and COP16 climate change negotiations in Copenhagen and Cancun, securing the inclusion of human rights principles and safeguards in the Cancun Agreements.
Rebecca M. Bratspies
Rebecca M. Bratspies is a professor at the City University of New York School of Law. A scholar of environmental justice, and human rights, Professor Bratspies has written scores of law review articles, op-eds, four books, including Environmental Justice: Law Policy and Regulation, and three environmental justice comic books Mayah’s Lot, Bina’s Plant , and Troop’s Run (with Charlie LaGreca). She serves on New York City’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and the EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, is a scholar with the Center for Progressive Reform and a member of the NYC Bar Environmental Committee. ABA-SEER honored her work with its Commitment to Diversity and Justice Award and the Centre for International Sustainability Law named her its 2022 International Human Rights Lawyer.
