Climate change and human rights: an elusive connection

Climate change is increasingly depicted as a human rights issue. A dozen cases currently pending before the European Court of Human Rights suggest that a state's obligation to protect human rights implies an obligation to limit and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. A widespread discourse suggests that hundreds of millions of "climate refugees" will roam the Earth in the coming decades. 

In this talk, Prof Benoit Mayer questions the relation between climate change and human rights. First, he shows the practical impossibility of identifying, in any meaningful sense, individuals who are "victims" of climate change, let alone of a state's failure to mitigate climate change. Second, he reveals the dangers of construing human rights law as requiring states to pursue community objectives that are only vaguely related to the enjoyment of human rights.

Participants:
-Prof. Benoit Mayer, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
-Dr. Calum TM Nicholson, Fellow, Mathias Corvinus Collegium

Benoit Mayer is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he teaches climate, environmental and international law. His research focuses on various aspects of climate law, including the international law obligations on climate change mitigation, the development of environmental assessments as a tool for climate change mitigation and the climate-migration nexus. He is the author of International Law Obligations on Climate Change Mitigation (Oxford University Press, 2022) and The International Law on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He is also a member of the UNFCCC roster of experts.

Date: 05 April, 5.30 p.m.
Venue: Lónyay-Hatvany Villa- 1. Csónak str., 1015 Budapest 
(Entrance: Aranybástya - The Golden Bastion Restaurant)

Participation in the event is free, but registration is required, which can be done by email at events@danubeinstitute.hu or by clicking on the R.S.V.P. button: