Teaching Resources

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Human Rights and the Environment

Resources for teachers seeking to apply an environmental human rights approach to teaching business and human rights include the recent work of United Nations Special Rapporteurs, a growing body of commentary, and legal cases seeking to hold business enterprises accountable for their environmental and human rights impacts.

Readings

UN Materials

UN Special Rapporteurs

            Human Rights and the Environment

  • John Knox, Report of the Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, UN Human Rights Council, UN doc. A/HRC/25/53 (Dec. 30, 2013), https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/25/53.
  • John Knox, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Issue of Human Rights Obligations Relating to the Enjoyment of a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment: Framework Principles, UN Human Rights Council, UN doc. A/HRC/37/59 (Jan. 24, 2018), https://undocs.org/A/HRC/37/59.
  • David Boyd, Human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment (Safe Climate), UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Jul. 19, 2019), https://undocs.org/A/74/161.

            Hazardous Substances and Wastes

  • Baskut Tuncak, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, UN Human Rights Council, UN doc. A/HRC/36/41 (Jul. 20, 2017), https://undocs.org/A/HRC/36/41.
  • Baskut Tuncak, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, UN Human Rights Council, UN doc. A/HRC/39/48 (Aug. 3, 2018). https://undocs.org/A/HRC/39/48.

            Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation

OHCHR

  • Protection of the rights of workers exposed to hazardous substances and wastes, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (October 8, 2019), https://undocs.org/A/HRC/RES/42/21.

UN Environment Programme

Additional Primary Sources

  • United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean, Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Escazú Agreement), adopted 4 March 2018, https://www.cepal.org/en/escazuagreement.

Commentary – Business

  • Sara L. Seck, Business Responsibilities for Human Rights and Climate Change – A Contribution to the Work of the Study Group on Business and Human Rights of the International Law Association (May 25, 2017), https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/2/.
  • Sara L. Seck, Climate Change, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Extractive Industries, Journal of Environmental Law and Practice (v. 31, no. 1 , 2018), 271-292, https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/14/.
  • Sara L. Seck, Transnational labour law and the environment: Beyond the bounded autonomous worker, Canadian Journal of Law and Society (v. 33, no. 2, 2018), 137-157, https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/62/. 
  • David Boyd, Rights of nature: a legal revolution that could save the world (Toronto: ECW Press, 2017). 
  • Sara L. Seck, Human Rights and Extractive Industries: Environmental Law and Standards, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation: Special Issue on Human Rights Law and the Extractive Industries (v. 12, February 2016), 12-1–12-42, https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/4/.
  • Sara L. Seck, A relational analysis of enterprise obligations and carbon majors for climate justice, Oñati Socio-Legal Series (forthcoming): Climate Justice in the Anthropocene (2020), https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/82/ .
  • Sara L. Seck, Relational Law: Re-imagining Tools for Environmental and Climate Justice, Canadian Journal of Women and the Law (v. 31, no. 1, 2019), 151-177, https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/46/.
  • Sara L. Seck, Revisiting Transnational Corporations and Extractive Industries: Climate Justice, Feminism, and State Sovereignty, Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (v. 26, no. 2, 2017), https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/20/.
  • K.H. Toft, Climate Change as a Business and Human Rights Issue: A Proposal for a Moral Typology, Business and Human Rights Journal (v. 5:1, 2020), 1-27.
  • S. Varvastian and F. Kalunga, Transnational Corporate Liability for Environmental Damage and Climate Change: Reassessing Access to Justice after Vedanta v Lungowe. Transnational Environmental Law (2020), https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102520000138.

Commentary – Policy

  • Sara L. Seck, Indigenous Rights, Environmental Rights, or Stakeholder Engagement? Comparing IFC and OECD Approaches to the Implementation of the Business Responsibility to Respect Human Rights, McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law (v. 12, no. 1, 2016), 48-91, https://works.bepress.com/sara-seck/5/.

Legal Cases

  • BCE Inc. v. 1976 Debentureholders, 2008 SCC 69, [2008] 3 S.C.R. 560. (Can.).
  • Chevron Corporation v. Yaiguaje, 2015 SCC 42, [2015] 3 S.C.R. 69 (Can.).
  • Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya, 2020 SCC 5, [2020] S.C.J. No. 5 (Can.).
  • Vedanta Resources PLC and another (Appellants) v Lungowe and others (Respondents), [2019] UKSC 20.
  • Yaiguaje v. Chevron Corporation, 2018 ONCA 472, [2018] O.J. No. 2698 (Can.).

Statutes

  • UK Companies Act, 2006, c. 46, s. 172(1)(d).
  • Canada Business Corporations Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-44, s. 122(1.1)(b).

Course Syllabi

  • Chiara Macchi, Climate Change, Migration and Human Rights in the Context of SubSaharian Africa, University of Addis Ababa – College of Law and Governance Studies (May 2019), on file with the Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum Syllabi Bank.
  • Elizabeth Umlas, Business and Human Rights Syllabus and Reading List, Oxford University Master of Studies in International Human Rights Law (July 2016), on file with the Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum Syllabi Bank.

[*]This bibliography may be cited as:

Sara L. Seck, “Teaching Resources:  Human Rights and the Environment,” Teaching Business and Human Rights Handbook (Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum, 2020), https://teachbhr.org/resources/teaching-bhr-handbook/teaching-notes/human-rights-and-the-environment/teaching-resources/.