The environmental rule of law and the protection of human rights defenders: law, society, technology, and markets

Elif Oral ()
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Elif Oral: TOBB University of Economics and Technology

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 2024, vol. 24, issue 2, No 7, 393-421

Abstract: Abstract Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) play a key role in the realization of the environmental rule of law and in strengthening social and ecological sustainability. States have the duty to protect and empower the EHRDs, while businesses, investors, and financial institutions also have responsibilities to respect human rights. Although the literature on human rights defenders is comprehensive, the article offers a theoretical analysis of the challenges facing the EHRDs by using Lawrence Lessig’s New Chicago School approach to explore the opportunities for bridging the gap between the theory and practice concerning the protection of EHRDs. The article endeavors to contribute to the literature by methodologically explaining the importance of legal regulation and State intervention for creating a safe and just space for the activities of the EHRDs. It demonstrates the effects of the four modalities in Lessig’s theory—i.e. the law, the social norms (culture), the architecture (technology), and the market—on the behavior of EHRDs, and ultimately on democracies while emphasizing the power of law as one of these modalities and being one of the imperative elements of the environmental rule of law. It argues that the adoption of international agreements, laws and policies regulating culture, technology, and markets, would empower civil society and encourage broad participation in the decision-making processes both within the States and the businesses to ensure accountable, transparent, and inclusive governance. It concludes that strengthened legal protection mechanisms for the rights of the rights’ defenders is an urgent need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the environmental rule of law.

Keywords: Environmental governance; Cultural relativism; Human rights due diligence; Artificial intelligence; Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP); Participatory democracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10784-024-09645-x

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