Climate Change and the American Declaration of the Rights & Duties of Man

Looking closely for a moment at how, exactly, it may be said that the U.S is responsible for contravening the Inuits Rights to Privacy, Residence and the Protection of the Home: The effects of global warming have already begun to impact the homes and communities of many individuals and groups in the Arctic. Subsidence due to permafrost melting is destroying homes, roads and other vital structures in the Arctic. Effects such as these violate the rights of each individual to protection of "private and family life", "the inviolability of his home" and, in some situations, "not to leave [the territory of the state of which he is a national] except by his own will." International tribunals have recognized that harm to the environment that affects one's home can violate these rights. For example, in Lopez Ostra v. Spain, the European Court of Human Rights held that Spain's failure to prevent a waste treatment plant from polluting nearby homes violated the petitioner's "right to respect for her home and her private and family life", and held the state liable for damages.

For more information, please contact Marcos Orellana.

1 Donald M. Goldberg and Martin Wagner, "Petitioning for Adverse Impacts of Global Warming in the Inter-American Human Rights System", Climate Change Five Years after Kyoto, Ed. Vela I. Glover, pp.192