On 28 May, the Baltic Human Rights Society in cooperation with the Riga Graduate School of Law organised a discussion on the interaction between human rights and climate issues. In the light of the European Court of Human Rights' "climate judgements" in April, the aim of the event was to show, on the one hand, how climate change threatens human rights and, on the other, how human rights protection mechanisms can contribute to mitigating climate change. Leading experts in the field were invited to share their insights.
The event opened with a speech by ClientEarth human rights expert Ilze Tralmaka, outlining the current evolution of the interaction between climate and human rights and summarising the outcomes of current climate and human rights litigation. In the discussion that followed, leading experts in the field gave their views on issues such as the human rights link to climate change mitigation, national climate frameworks, climate and human rights litigation at a national and international level, and other available protection mechanisms.
The discussion was moderated by Lauris Liepa, COBALT Managing Partner and attorney-at-law, while Ilze Prūse, Director of the Strategic Coordination Department of the Ministry of Climate and Energy, Jānis Brizga, Green Freedom Manager and environmental scientist, Ilze Tralmaka, ClientEarth Law and Policy Advisor and human rights lawyer, and Madara Meļņika, Assistant of the Constitutional Court Judge and human rights lawyer, shared their expertise.
The discussion highlighted that the right to a healthy and sustainable environment, which is closely linked to concerns about climate change mitigation, is fairly well protected at national level.
"The right to a healthy environment is now enshrined in the constitutions of more than 100 countries and a total of 155 countries recognise this right either through their constitutions or through environmental legislation."
Ilze Tralmaka
"The Constitutional Court has already enshrined this duty of the state to act on climate by ensuring sustainable development and ensuring that the state will exist for future generations."
Madara Melnika
However, there was also a discussion on the obstacles to the implementation of climate policy in Latvia.
"Our ministry [of climate and energy] has just over 40 employees, most of whom are involved in energy issues. Relatively few work directly on climate issues. This is one of the reasons why, although we would like to do more, we cannot."
Ilze Prūse
The experts stressed that there is no specific human right to "climate change mitigation" at an international level. The UN Human Rights Council has recognised the right to a "clean, healthy and sustainable environment", but unfortunately this resolution is not legally binding. The right to a clean and sustainable environment and climate change mitigation are protected through so-called "climate litigation", which aims to hold states accountable for inadequate action.
The discussion also focused on the importance of public participation and international cooperation to promote sustainable development and protect human rights.
"Non-governmental organisations are actively involved - not only environmental organisations, but also organisations from various other sectors. In that sense, Latvia is a good example when looking at Europe and the world - that there are these opportunities to participate, there are opportunities to comment."
Jānis Brizga
The event was attended by representatives from various fields - environmental activists, human rights defenders, MPs, lawyers and public sector representatives, who also took the opportunity at the end of the discussion to ask questions of interest to them, such as what are the possibilities for the state to push for climate referendums, could human rights be part of the problem, what is the role of a global perspective on climate issues and what are the trends in climate litigation at the global level.
