CDER’s Hugo Echeverría Appearance Before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
On April 24, 2024, Hugo Echeverría of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), presented to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The hearing took place in Barbados at the University of the West Indies.
His presentation may be watched in the video above beginning at 2 hours and 32 minutes. The questions from the Inter-American Court judges follows the panel presentations.
The Climate Emergency, Human Rights, and the Rights of Nature
In 2023, Colombia and Chile submitted a request to the Inter-American Court requesting an advisory opinion “to clarify the scope of State obligations…to respond to the climate emergency within the framework of international human rights law…as well as on nature and on human survival on our planet.”
The Inter-American Court invited written submissions from interested parties. CDER provided its submission in December 2023, which is available at this link in Spanish and English. The Inter-American Court then scheduled a series of hearings to receive testimony from parties who made submissions. The Inter-American Court is expected to issue its advisory opinion next year.
Hugo Echeverría Presentation to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
In his appearance before the Inter-American Court, Hugo explained what the rights of nature are, why it is being enacted in different countries, including within Latin America, and why it is essential to protect the rights of nature in order to protect the human right to a healthy environment. He emphasized that to protect human rights to a healthy environment, the environment must itself have a higher level of protection through the recognition of its legal rights.
Following his presentation, and those of the other panelists – including Professor Erin Daly and former Organization of American States Rapporteur Soledad García - the Inter-American Court judges asked a number of questions on the rights of nature.
This included a question regarding how to integrate the rights of nature into a human rights treaty, such as the American Convention on Human Rights, which established the Inter-American Court.
Hugo and other panelists explained that while the American Convention focuses on human rights, that it’s essential for the Inter-American Court to recognize that the legal rights of nature are rapidly being expanded across Latin America (and globally), the potential of the rights of nature to help achieve the goals of environmental human rights as complementary and dependent upon each other, and the importance of acknowledging the autonomy of the rights of nature in countries where they are recognized in law and court rulings.
The Rights of Nature and Human Right to a Healthy Environment are Integrally Related
In CDER’s written submission to the Inter-American Court, we explained that facing overlapping environmental crises, such as climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse, a growing number of countries in the Americas – including Ecuador, Panama, and Bolivia – are protecting both the human right to a healthy environment and the rights of the environment itself in law. These crises have developed and accelerated under traditional environmental laws, which largely regulate the use and exploitation of nature.
CDER’s submission and our presentation in Barbados provided a unique perspective to the Inter-American Court, emphasizing that the protection of the human right to a healthy environment requires that we move beyond traditional human-centric environmental laws, which have proven inadequate to address these crises, and of the need to protect the rights of nature.
In our submission, we described how the human right to a healthy environment and the rights of nature are distinct rights. We explained that these rights are complementary, and that addressing the climate emergency and human rights, will require protecting and guaranteeing both sets of rights.
Ecuador was first country to do so, enshrining the constitutional human right to a healthy environment in 1983, and the rights of the environment (nature) within the constitution in 2008. CDER’s founders consulted on the drafting of Ecuador’s rights of nature constitutional provisions. The rights of nature recognized in Ecuador’s Constitution include the right of nature to exist, evolve, regenerate, and be restored.
Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has emphasized that protecting the rights of nature is part of protecting the human right to a healthy environment. The Constitutional Court has described the interdependence of the elements of nature, including humans, writing:
Nature is made up of an interrelated, interdependent, and indivisible set of biotic and abiotic elements (ecosystems). Nature is a community of life. All the elements that make it up, including the human species, are linked and have a function or role. The properties of each element arise from the interrelationships with the rest of the elements and function as a network. When an element is affected, the functioning of the system is altered. When the system changes, it also affects each of its elements. (Sentence No. 22-18-IN/21)
Background on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The American Convention on Human Rights came into force in 1978. It is an international treaty with parties to the treaty largely being countries in Latin America. The American Convention establishes obligations of member-states to respect the rights and liberties of the Convention, which include rights to privacy, equal protection, and freedom of religion, as well as the “progressive development of economic, social, and cultural rights.” Further, the American Convention established the Inter-American Court to “interpret and apply the American Convention.”
Learn More about the Rights of Nature
To learn more about the rights of nature, including rights of nature laws and court rulings, a rights of nature timeline, and enforcement efforts around the world, visit CDER’s website: centerforenvironmentalrights.org.