The integration of environmental protection considerations within the human rights law regime: Which solutions have been provided by regional human rights courts?

This contribution aims to identify the numerous conflicts that arise between environmental protection regulations and specific human rights. By focusing on the case law of regional human rights mechanisms, it highlights the “positive” and the “negative” integration of international environmental law (IEL) within the human rights law (HRL) regime. It argues that these supposedly separate bodies of law are in reality intertwined. The case law analysis of the negative integration of IEL within the HRL regime teaches us that HRL adjudicators have done more than neutrally measure conformity of environmental protection regulations with the HRL regime. While some cases add specific procedural requirements to these environmental protection regulations – Xàkmok Kàsek case – others establish a hierarchy between IEL and HRL – Fredin and Turgut cases – and yet others engage in defining and arguably even producing environmental rights – Herrick and Chapman cases. This contribution provides specific insights into how regional human rights adjudicators resolve conflicts and what consequences result from the judicial techniques in terms of both the content of the respective legal regimes and their hierarchical relationship. It argues that both content and implementation of IEL cannot be understood without integrating HRL adjudicators into the analytical framework.