THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT
Programme on International Rights of the Child
Series Editor: Geraldine Van Bueren
Titles in the Series:
Childrens Rights and Traditional Values
Edited by Gillian Douglas and Leslie Sebba
Cultural Pluralism and the Rights of the Child
Michael Freeman
Of Innocence and Autonomy
Children, Sex and Human Rights
Eric Heinze
The Human Right to Education
Douglas Hodgson
The Child and the European Convention on Human Rights
Ursula Kilkelly
Legal Secrets, Cultural and Scientific Truths
Katherine ODonovan
Childhood Abused
Protecting Children against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment Edited by Geraldine Van Bueren
The Right of the Child to a Clean Environment
Edited by Agata Fijalkowski and Malgosia Fitzmaurice
The Right of the Child to a Clean Environment
Edited by
AGATA FIJALKOWSKI
T.M.C. Asser Institute
for Private and Public International Law,
The Hague, The Netherlands
MALGOSIA FITZMAURICE
Queen Mary and Westfield College,
University of London
First published 2000 by Dartmouth Publishing Company and Ashgate Publishing
Reissued 2018 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright Agata Fijalkowski and Malgosia Fitzmaurice 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.
A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 99055600
ISBN 13: 978-1-138-70791-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-20131-3 (ebk)
Contents
Holly Cullen
Harry Post
Michael Anderson and Sylvia Bluck
Agata Fijalkowski
Olufemi Elias
Veronic Wright
Soledad Aguilar, Maria G. Doglioli and Marcos Oliva-Day
Marie Louise Bistrup
Maaike Jansen
General editor of the series:
Geraldine Van Bueren, Director of the Programme on International Rights of the Child, Faculty of Laws, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, United Kingdom.
Editors:
Agata Fijalkowski and Malgosia Fitzmaurice
List of contributors:
Soledad Aguilar, Lawyer, Catholic University of Argentina.
Michael Anderson, Director of Studies, The British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, United Kingdom.
Maria Louise Bistrup, Programme Co-ordinator, Childwatch International, Oslo, Norway.
Sylvia Bluck, Legal Consultant, The British Council, United Kingdom.
Holly Cullen, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Durham, Durham, United Kingdom.
Maria G. Doglioli, Lawyer, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Olufemi Elias, Legal Officer, United Nations Compensation Commission, Geneva, Switzerland.
Agata Fijalkowski, Editor, T.M.C. Asser Institute for Private and Public International Law, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Chair of Public International Law, Faculty of Laws, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, United Kingdom.
Maaike Jansen, Consultant for UNICEF and UNEP, Regional Office for North America, New York, United States.
Marcos Oliva-Day, Co-Founder of the Fundacin Patagonia Natural, Province of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina; Public Prosecutor, Court of First Instance, Puerto Deseado, Province of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina.
Harry Post, Professor of Law, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom (until 9/99, Associate Professor, Institute of Public International Law, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands), Adjunct Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria, Canada.
Veronic Wright, Director of Legal Office, Ministry of Justice, The Gambia.
The Right of the Child to a Clean Environment is dedicated to a topic which has for a long time lacked in the academic world the attention it deserves. The editors have to be congratulated to have to put together this volume. The various contributions put focus on important problems in the area of environmental protection and human rights. The much-discussed problem of environmental rights has mostly been appraised from a general point of view. However, recent events such as the Minors Oposa case (decided by the Supreme Court of the Philippines) and the Lopez Ostra case (decided by the European Court of Human Rights) highlighted the problem of environmental rights of the child. Until now there has been a distinct lack of a study dealing with all the issues involved. The present book addresses in a coherent and comprehensive manner these issues by describing and analysing developments at the national, European and international level.
In the introductory remarks the reader will find an interesting and useful analysis of the issues concerning a human right to a clean environment. The contributions to this volume show in-depth research and admirable understanding to the issues involved. They assess the right of a child to a clean environment from the points of view of theory and practice, which makes the book an indispensible reading for both practitioners and theorists. The value of the book is greatly enhanced by bringing to the attention of the reader legislation from all parts of the world, thus enabling to make a comparative studies of the issues involved.
Thus, both as a theorist and a practitioner, and a participant in many United Nations projects and initiatives in the field of the environmental protection, I strongly recommend this study as a very interesting and useful contribution in the ongoing discussions on the topic. I am convinced that this volume will be most valuable for understanding the problems arising in the field of environmental protection of the child.
Professor Gerhard Loibl
Institute of International Law and International Relations, University of Vienna, Austria; Director for International Affairs, the Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family Affairs, Austria
The Editors would like to thank Professor Geraldine Van Bueren, the General Editor of the series, for suggesting the timely and stimulating idea for the workshop, which resulted in this book. The Editors would also like to thank the authors for the timely submissions of their essays and for their cooperation. The Editors are grateful to the various governments and institutions which responded to the questionnaire. Further appreciation goes to the Faculty of Laws, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, for invaluable assistance in organising the workshop on The Right of the Child to a Clean Environment, and in particular, to Mrs Julie Herd.
