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• In an effort to make sure countries and corporations follow existing laws and agreements relating to climate change and environmental protection, groups have started pushing for legal action at the international scale.
• They are arguing that climate change cases are human rights cases and in doing so are wading into unprecedented legal waters.

Cases of interest

• There are two particularly interesting legal cases working their way through international channels right now.
• The first has to do a with dam being built in the remote and environmentally important region of Patagonia in southern Argentina.
• Working with the environmental group, together “they realized that China was having its human rights record reviewed that year.
• This is a peer-review process where countries can essentially call out other governments for abusing human rights.

Setting precedents

• These cases will set precedents for future legal actions as governments, environmental groups and other businesses and organizations consider any rulings and their impacts.
• And it’s hard to predict what these rulings will come to mean, as enforcement will be extremely difficult to enact.
• Jackie Smith, a sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh, offered a different take.
• Jackie Smith is a co-coordinator of the Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance and a member of the steering committee of the (bi-national) Human Rights Cities Alliance.