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1. INTRODUCTION
escalation of poverty and widening social disparities. Concurrently, combating
hunger persists as a pressing challenge and this problem is intensifying in
severity. These dynamics profoundly undermine the realization and enforcement
of human rights.
On World Environment Day, 5 June 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur
on human rights and the environment, David R. Boyd, drew attention to the
catastrophic environmental impacts of conflicts that threaten the enforceability
of human rights worldwide.*° The consequences of environmental destruction
will persist for years after the cessation of armed conflicts and will also exert
a significant negative impact on regions not directly affected by warfare. On
19 May 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the effects
of climate change on human rights and the role of environmental defenders
in this matter, underscoring the distinctive characteristics of the complex
phenomenon of climate change, including its uneven spatial and temporal
distribution, as well as its predominantly unpredictable and stochastic nature.*”
The intimate connection between environmental conditions and the
enforceability of the right to a healthy environment is evident. A pivotal
milestone was reached, marking the culmination of an era that began with
the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, when,
on 8 October 2021 in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a
resolution for the first time recognizing access to a clean, healthy, and
sustainable environment as a universal human right."
The human rights-based approach to climate change underscores the
principles of universality and non-discrimination, emphasizing that rights
are assured to all individuals worldwide, including vulnerable groups, without
discrimination on any grounds, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or any
other status. In the light of the foregoing, it is pertinent to inquire how the
escalating processes initiated by anthropogenic activities can be influenced
through regulatory measures.
In the modern context, numerous historical precedents for environmental
protection regulations — such as Plato’s Laws — demonstrate that since humans
have inhabited the Earth, they have exerted an increasingly significant impact
36 United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Catastrophic
Environmental Impacts of Conflicts Jeopardize Human Rights,” media advisory, 23 June
2022, https://www.ohchr.org/en/media-advisories/2022/06/catastrophic-environmental¬
impacts-conflicts-jeopardize-human-rights.
*7 European Parliament, Resolution of 19 May 2021 on the Effects of Climate Change on Human
Rights and the Role of Environmental Defenders (2020/2134(INI)), Official Journal of the
European Union C 15 (12 January 2022): 111-24, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/
document/TA-9-2021-0245_EN.html.
38 United Nations General Assembly, Resolution 48/13: Establishment of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free
Zone in the Region of the Middle East (7 December 1993), https://www.un.org/documents/
ga/res/48/a48r013.htm.
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