Article

A Continuum of Responsibility: An Examination of the Human Right to a Healthy Environment of Present and Future Generations

Sarah Dávila A.

Associate Professor of Law and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.

I thank Britton Schwartz as a continuous interlocutor in this space of environmental human rights. I also want to thank former research assistant Jacob Baron for his diligent research and editing support of this article, and to Jenna Corbett for her support finalizing this article.

Youth-led advocacy has been at the forefront of the protection of the right to a healthy environment in the face of a triple planetary crisis: loss of biodiversity, environmental degradation, and climate change. Globally, youth have called upon international bodies to provide guidance as to how States and private actors can be held accountable for human right violations. They have demanded that States protect not merely the human rights of present generations, but those of future generations. This Article explores recent developments in international human rights law, including the recent Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 26, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ decision in Inhabitants of La Oroya v. Perú. This Article posits that it is imperative to consider the Precautionary Principle within the right to a healthy environment framework in order to manage this environmental crisis. The Precautionary Principle seeks to prevent environmental harm prior to its occurrence, by requiring States to prevent foreseeable, serious, and irreversible damage, and to ensure that the environment is “sound enough” for present and future generations. This Article further grounds this discussion in the context of marginalized communities living in multidimensional poverty, such as children and those in “sacrifice zones,” which are often at the forefront of the fight to survive and protect the environment.

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