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HRLC calls on ACT government to enshrine ‘right to healthy environment’ into law
The legal body, Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), has called to introduce the clause into the territory’s Human Rights Act 2004, stating that the current environmental laws are failing communities.
Abhranil Hazra
Human Rights Law Centre stated that its submission is not only a step in taking the systemic changes to combat the global threats of climate change and environmental degradation, but to restore First Nations and Torres Strait Islander people in their central role in defining the right to a healthy environment.
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The legal body added that environmental destruction threatens the right to life, water, food, health and a decent standard of living. It added that First Nations and Torres Strait Islanders’ knowledge, rights, and practices, which were oppressed since colonisation, are key to addressing the current climate and environmental crisis.
“At a time when climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss are threatening the health and livelihoods of many people and communities, there is a pressing need to find new ways to protect the precious ecosystems on which human life depends,” said Adrianne Walters, associate legal director of Human Rights Law Centre.
“Climate change is exacerbating the racialised environmental, social and economic injustices that colonisation was founded on, posing acute threats to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights to country, culture and wellbeing.
“It is critical that the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT are prioritised in the drafting of this right and that their rights, knowledge and practices are recognised by the ACT government.”
The comments from the HRLC come after the ACT government invited public submissions about whether and how such a right should be included in the Human Rights Act. If the clause is included, it would be the first government in Australia to formally recognise this right in law.
The Human Rights Law Centre claims that its submission provides a unique opportunity for the ACT government to provide a model for lawmakers across Australia in becoming the first jurisdiction to recognise a standalone right to a healthy environment.
“Amending the ACT’s Human Rights Act to include the right to a healthy environment will not only help safeguard the environment for future generations, it will set the standard across Australia,” it said.
“Over 155 countries globally recognise the right to a healthy environment through national and regional laws. Governments across Australia should take note. The status quo has changed. A healthy environment is a human right, and it must be protected at all costs.”
