Human rights’ approach to environmental protection – practice of the Human Rights Committee

The consequences of environmental degradation and pollution have raised the issue of the significance of the link between human rights and environmental protection. Since the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not explicitly recognize the right to a healthy environment, the Human Rights Committee has accepted the possibility that a State Party can violate a number of civil and political rights by its acts or failures in the field of environmental protection. The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the practice of the Committee in order to define the standards in the context of violation of human rights by environmental degradation. The paper will address regular reports submitted by State Parties, as well as general comments and concluding observations of the Committee. A special attention will be paid to the views of the Committee regarding the individual complaints received under the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. On the basis of the analytical discussion, the authors will provide a conceptual clarity to the interpretation of standards that might be useful in articulating the civil and political rights related to environmental protection.