Amicus Curiae Brief Presented to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Relation to its Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights

The authors respectfully submit the following information in their capacity as amici curiae in response to the call for submissions made by the Honourable Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Court) regarding Chile and Colombia’s request for an advisory opinion with respect to the Climate Emergency and Human Rights.1 The authors focus on the three following propositions that arise from this Honourable Court’s landmark advisory opinion The Environment and Human Rights (OC-23/17): 

A. States’ obligation to prevent significant harm or damage to the environment, including harm that may involve a violation of the rights to life and to personal integrity, within or outside national territory, is directly applicable to States’ response to climate change, including mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate impacts, addressing climate-induced loss and damage, and supporting developing countries. 

B. The notion of Climate Emergency is legally distinct from that of public emergencies that allow the suspension of certain basic rights to address exceptional situations such as wars, public dangers, or national security threats. Rather, it transforms States’ obligation to prevent significant harm or damage to the environment into a climate emergency action obligation. 

C. Fulfilling the climate emergency action obligation contributes to preventing future pandemics and to protecting the human rights of vulnerable groups in the context of pandemics. In this context, the “One Health” approach, which envisions the health of people, animals, and the environment as fully integrated, is directly relevant to defining and to implementing States’ climate emergency action obligation.