Meijknecht, Anna --- "The contribution of the Inter-American human rights system to sustainable development" [2015] ELECD 494; in Scholtz, Werner; Verschuuren, Jonathan (eds), "Regional Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 177

Book Title: Regional Environmental Law

Editor(s): Scholtz, Werner; Verschuuren, Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781951774

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: The contribution of the Inter-American human rights system to sustainable development

Author(s): Meijknecht, Anna

Number of pages: 43

Abstract/Description:

The Inter-American system was not intended ‘to solve all the problems faced by the Americas, or to the replacement of [sic] the States’ role in the protection of human rights and the environment’. The human rights system of the Inter-American Organization of American States (hereinafter: ‘OAS’ or ‘Inter-American system’) is primarily a human rights system focused on the strict application of the provision of the American Declaration and of the American Convention. ‘Consequently’, as pointed out by Mazzuoli and Teixeira, ‘the process of greening of the Inter-American system requires the observation of an indirect reflex pathway technique, which consists in demonstrating the interconnections between an environmental issue and violations of the OAS instruments’. This chapter aims to describe and analyse such ‘interconnecting’ aspects in the main legal instruments of the OAS human rights system and in the case-law of the Inter-American human rights bodies, in order to determine how the Inter-American human rights system contributes to sustainable development in this region of the world. After a short introduction to the human rights bodies of the OAS, section 2 will consider the standards in OAS legal instruments which relate to the protection of the environment and, in particular, will assess the effect of Article 29 ACHR – the ‘dialogue’ or ‘catapult’ Article. Subsequently, section 3 will explore the scope and the ‘interconnecting’ effect of Article 44 ACHR establishing a broad ius standi before the Inter-American Commission.