Cross-embedded ralationship nature of Human Rights-related treaties and instruments with environment-related sustainable development goals

Abstract

It is imperative that Treaties & Instruments and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) must be analysed, considering their interdependencies and mutually reinforcing nature. The paper examines the Cross Embedded Relationship (CER) nature of core Human Rights-related Treaties & Instruments (HR-T&I) in Environment-related SDGs (E-SDG) in driving a metamorphic transformation process toward inclusive economic growth, adhering to human rights values that are environmentally centric and sustainable in the true sense. Some core HR-T&I explicitly recognise CER, as observed in textual analysis. The study reveals a varied level of the Cross Embedment Relationship Index (CERI) between the provisions of core HR-T&I and E-SDG, thereby indicating the importance of human rights principles in E-SDG and the significance of environment orientation in core HR-T&I. Linking core HR-T&I provisions with E-SDG and extra-legal compliance mechanism of SDGs can produce positive synergies in realising SDG objectives.

Embedded Relationship Nature of Human Rights, Industrialization, Environment, Sustainable Development Goals, Constitution, Legislation, and Judiciary

“…Philosophical, theoretical, and legal perspectives of IHR, ISID, and the environment are discussed in literature (Leib, 2011;Boer and Boyle, 2014;Suresh, Erinjery, and Jegathambal, 2016;Suresh, 2018;Knox, 2018;Kaltenborn, Krajewski, and Kuhn, 2020;Akyuz, 2021;Knox and Morgera, 2022;Suresh and Sundaram, 2022). The Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution acknowledged many important elements of strengthening nature between IHR and the environment.…”

“…2 ISID model is considered as a growth engine for income generation, an enabler, and a facilitator for rapid and sustained improvement and enhancement in living standards coined to offer robust technical solutions to environmentally compatible and sound industrialization, thereby enhancing and reinforcing economic growth and diversification in a socially inclusive and environmentally sound acceptable manner. 3 Even though analysis related to reinforcing nature of IHR and environment and linkage studies between SDG, IHR, and environment, literature still emphasizes studies on long-overdue recognition of IHR, ISID, and environment nexus and their litigation-related matters 4 (Wernham, 2016; Fraser and Henderson, 2022;Suresh and Sundaram, 2022). Environmental dimensions of IHR, industrial, and business law are rarely addressed in the literature, despite the increase in environmental cases in IHR and industrialization Jurisprudence.…”

“…In the past, India adopted an economic development strategy driven by a model of large-scale industrialization without adequate environmental safeguards; development of industrial clusters without much consideration for environmental and pollution abatement infrastructure and without adhering to ISID development models; promotion of small-scale industries, which cannot afford the creation of standalone pollution control measures; energy-intensive hard to abate emission industries; and biochemical-based agricultural technology, which has led to environmental degradation and IHR and ISID violations especially in managing waste and equitable distribution of resources (Suresh, Erinjery, and Jegathambal, 2016;Suresh, 2018;Gill and Ramachandran, 2021;Suresh and Sundaram, 2022). However, it is not possible to conclude that concern for the protection of the environment was not present; after independence, several laws were passed in India to protect the environment.…”

“…Environmental degradation, non-compliance to IHR, and industrial growth without due adherence to ISID development principles are some of the major problems in the contemporary world, but a common international law promoting ISID while protecting IHR and the environment is unfounded (Olawuyi, 2014;Akyuz, 2021;Suresh and Sundaram, 2022). Changing contours of environment-related crimes coupled with IHR violations create a disastrous impact on all dimensions of SD, be it on the environment and natural resources, economic development and ISID, or social and cultural fabric (Suresh and Sundaram, 2021).…”

“…Analyzes are confined to SDG dealing with health or water (Scanlon, Cassar, and Nemes, 2004), the right to food and nutrition (Vivero Pol and Schuftan, 2016;Aller, Romero, and Carvajal, 2018), clean energy or related areas (Spijkers, 2020). Ear lier studies reveal that the cross-embedded relationship nature of IHR-related treaties and instruments with environment-related SDGs can be utilized holistically in advancing SDGs (Suresh and Sundaram, 2022). Hence analyzing the embedded relationship and reinforcing the nature of IHR, ISID, environment SDGs, Constitutional and Legislation provisions, and Judiciary assumes great importance in this context.…”