Human Rights Practice: A Means to Environmental Ends?

Authors

  • Kate Donald

Keywords:

Human rights, environment, praxis, climate change, United Nations, development, activism. Derechos humanos, medio ambiente, cambio climático, Naciones Unidas, desarrollo, activismo.

Abstract

Can human rights practice in its current dominant forms tackle the challenge of climate change and global environmental degradation? This article argues that although there is now increased recognition of the links between human rights and the environment, and while human rights tools and principles can contribute in some concrete ways in moving forward the environmental agenda, their potential for doing is so far largely unrealised. The article analyses three different approaches used by advocates and activists in this field, before discussing potential alternatives and examples of radical or hybrid approaches, with a view to articulating a strategy for activism and praxis that can capture the real and lived inter-connectedness of human rights enjoyment and environmental factors more meaningfully.

¿Puede la práctica de los derechos humanos en sus formas dominantes actuales hacer frente al desafío del cambio climático y la degradación global del medio ambiente? Este artículo sostiene que, aunque ahora hay un mayor reconocimiento de los vínculos entre los derechos humanos y el medio ambiente, y mientras que las herramientas y principios de los derechos humanos pueden contribuir en avanzar de manera concreta la agenda ambiental, su potencial se encuentra frustrado en gran parte hasta el momento. El artículo analiza tres enfoques diferentes utilizados por los defensores y activistas en este campo, antes de discutir alternativas y ejemplos de enfoques radicales o híbridos, con el fin de articular una estrategia para el activismo y la praxis que pueda capturar de manera más significativa la interconexión real y vivida del disfrute de los derechos humanos y de los factores medioambientales.

DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2247850

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Author Biography

Kate Donald

Kate Donald currently works as Adviser to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. Previously, she was Research Fellow at the International Council on Human Rights Policy, where she worked on issues including climate change, corruption, sexuality and the penalisation of poverty, examining their intersections with human rights discourse, practice and law. Kate has a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford.

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Published

30-01-2013

How to Cite

Donald, K. (2013) “Human Rights Practice: A Means to Environmental Ends?”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 3(5), pp. 908–930. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/253 (Accessed: 29 March 2024).