On 5 October 2020, the European Court of Human Rights is hosting on its premises a conference on Human Rights and Environmental Protection. The conference will also be streamed online. The registration is open until 25 September. The full programme can be accessed here. Below is the description of the conference:
‘How to address human rights class-actions stemming from large-scale environmental pollution? Where to draw the line between a policy decision within the State’s margin of appreciation and a State’s failure to strike the right balance between conflicting interests? Whether to allow legal standing to applicants who vindicate collective and intergenerational rights? Ought the Court rely on the precautionary principle and adopt a new causation test in applications concerning global warming? Or should it rather refrain from taking up the role of Europe’s climate change tribunal? In the event violations are found, what measures of redress and prevention should be imposed on Member States? How to ensure better State compliance?
Meaningful answers to these questions call for a general and conceptual reflection on the role of international human rights tribunals in reviewing Member States’ efforts to comply with their obligations under the environmental law to mitigate and adapt to the effects of the climate crisis and to stop nature’s degradation.
The conference … aims at facilitating a debate between renowned practitioners and academic experts in the field of international environmental law and human rights.’
