ACT leadership in protecting Right to a Healthy Environment should catalyse action across Australia
In a groundbreaking Australian first, the ACT has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to explicitly enshrine the right to a healthy environment within its Human Rights Act 2004 (ACT). Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has applauded the move, noting it comes a year after the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution to recognise the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as an essential human right.
Annika Reynolds, (they/them) ALHR Co-Chair of Environment and Human Rights said, “This is an historic win for all of the organisations and advocates who have worked in the ACT over many years to bring about this reform. We commend the ACT Parliament on leading the nation in recognising that protecting environmental human rights will enhance the work of government and benefit all Canberrans.”
“This is a critical first step towards bringing all Australian jurisdictions in line with the global consensus that a sustainable environment is integral to the full enjoyment of almost every human right protected within the core UN Human Rights Treaties. In an era of escalating climate and biodiversity crisis, it is essential that Australian governments recognise and make decisions that protect our rights to a safe climate, clean air and environments free from pollution.”
“ALHR urges other states and territories and the federal government to follow suit by introducing protection for the right to a healthy environment within Human Rights specific legislation.”
ALHR Vice President Kerry Weste, said, “More than 80 percent of UN Member States, 160 out of 193, legally recognise environmental rights and 19 out of 27 EU countries have enshrined these protections in their constitutions. Although Australia supported the July 2023 UNGA resolution recognising the right to a healthy environment, the Australian Government has not yet followed through domestically.
“This yet again highlights our Country’s status as a global outlier – we hold ourselves out as a human rights leader within the rules-based international legal order, whilst the reality is that we are the only Western liberal democracy without a national Human Rights Act or Bill of Rights to protect people at home.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s proposed model federal Human Rights Act, recommends the explicit protection of the right to a healthy environment nationally. Following its Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights May 2024 Report recommended that the federal Government introduce an Australian Human Rights Act that includes protection of the right to a healthy environment and that all states and territories yet to do so introduce their own human rights legislation. ALHR continues to call on governments across Australia to accept and implement these recommendations.
Reynolds continued, “It’s time to ensure that all Australians receive the same protection for their environmental human rights, no matter where they live.”
“The climate and environmental crises impact all Australians and must be approached within a human rights framework. Legally recognising that a healthy environment is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of all fundamental human rights is the only way to ensure those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are not left behind.”
ALHR is a member organisation of the Green Rights Coalition, an alliance of over 1,300 civil society organisations and climate advocates from over 70 countries calling for the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
In November 2023, supported by the Centre for Law and Justice at the University of Newcastle and ALHR, 55 high school students from 10 schools across the Hunter region came together to collaboratively draft the Australian school students statement on the right to a healthy environment.
Read ALHR’s Submission on the Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023 here
Read ALHR’s submission to the ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate Public Consultation to Inform Consideration of the Right to a Healthy Environment here