The impact of climate change on indigenous people - the implications for the cultural, spiritual, economic and legal rights of indigenous people

International Journal of Human Rights

Volumn 16, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 648-688

  Williams, Jay ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Climate change; Indigenous rights; National; Regional and international law

Indexed keywords

EID: 84863377293     PISSN: 13642987     EISSN: 1744053X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13642987.2011.632135     Document Type: Article

References (217)

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144. Since the Committee rejected the five climate-related In Danger petitions, two more have been filed: (i) the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area in Australia; and (ii) in January of 2009, Earthjustice and the Australian Climate Justice Programme, filed a petition with the Committee that focused on the threat that black carbon emissions posed for an array of World Heritage sites.
145. William C.G. Burns, 'Belt and Suspenders? The World Heritage Convention's Role in Confronting Climate Change', Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 18 (2009): 158.
146. Commonwealth of Australia v. Tasmania (Tasmanian Dam Case) (1983) 158 CLR 1.
147. Article 26 of the Vienna Convention provides the doctrine of 'pacta sunt servanda' which states that '[e]very treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith'.
148. see also J. Crawford, The ILC's Articles on State Responsibility: Introduction, Text and Commentaries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
149. Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (HungarylSlovakia), Judgement, 1. CJ Reports 1997, 7 at [38]-[40].
150. Legal Consequences of the Construction of aWall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, ICJ Reports 2004, 136 at [147].
151. R.S.J. Tol and R. Verheyen, 'State Responsibility and Compensation for Climate Change Damages-A Legal and Economic Analysis', Energy Policy 32 (2004): 1109 at 1115
152. Philippe Sands, Principles of International Environmental Law, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) at 188-9
153. Jacqueline Peel, 'New State Responsibility Rules and Compliance with Multilateral Environmental Obligations: Some Case Studies of How the New Rules Might Apply in the International Environmental Context', Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 10 (2001): 82.
154. Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, Official Records of the General Assembly, UN GAOR 56th Sess., Supp. No. 10 UN Doc. A/56/10 (2001) at art. 48(1)(b)
155. Barcelona Traction Company (Belgium v. Spain), [1970] ICJ Rep. 4 at 32.
156. Sands, Principles of International Environmental Law, 14
157. Ved P. Nanda and George Pring, International Environmental Law and Policy for the 21st Century (Ardseley, New York: Transnational Publishers, 2003), 36.
158. Case Concerning the Gabicikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v. Slovakia), [1997] ICJ Rep. 7 [53].
159. Trail Smelter (United States v. Canada) Arbitration (1938-41) 3 RIAA 1905, at 1965-6.
160. Legality of the Threat or Use of NuclearWeapons, Advisory Opinion, ICJ Reports 1996, 226 at 241-2.
161. Only a total of 63 states have recognised the compulsory jurisdiction of the court (with or without reservations) through the 'optional clause' system. See International Court of Justice, http:// www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ibasicdocuments/ibasictext/ibasic_whobringcases.html (accessed 30 October 2011).
162. Edith B. Weiss, 'Judicial Independence and Impartiality: A Preliminary Inquiry, in the International Court of Justice at a Crossroads', in The International Court of Justice at a Crossroads, ed. L. Damrosch (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Transnational Publishers, 1987), 135-9.
163. Barry E. Carter and Phillip R. Trimble, International Law (Boston, MA: Little Brown, Law School Casebook Series, 1995), 301.
164. Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities In and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. USA), [1986] ICJ Reports 14, 158-60 (Merits) per Judge Lachs.
165. Rebecca Elizabeth Jacobs, 'Treading Deep Waters: Substantive Law Issues in Tuvalu's Threat to Sue the United States in the International Court of Justice', Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal 14 (2003): 103.
166. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has forecast that by 2100 global temperatures will rise by 1.4-5.88C and sea levels will rise by 9-88 cm. Already some 30 per cent of Tuvalu's territory becomes submerged during the rainy season
167. source, IPCC, Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Houghton, J.T., Y. Ding, D.J. Griggs, M. Noguer, P.J. van der Linden, X. Dai, K. Maskell, and C.A. Johnson (eds.)]. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), http://www.csun.edu/~hmc60533/ CSUN_630E_S2004/climate%20change/climate_change_2001_tech_summary.pdf (accessed 30 October 2011), 671.
168. David Ficking, 'Islanders Consider Exodus as Sea Level Rises', The Guardian, 19 July 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/jul/19/climatechange.climatechange environment (accessed 18 August 2011).
169. The Cairns Post, 'Tuvalu Pleads for Climate Assistance from Australia', 9 April 2011, http:// cairnspost.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx (accessed 18 August 2011).
170. Afelee Pita, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Tuvalu to the United Nations, 'Tuvalu Calls for Climate Change Polluters to Pay' (Press Release, 29 September 2007), http://www. tuvaluislands.com/un/2007/un_2007-09-29.html (accessed 25 May 2010).
171. Rebecca Elizabeth Jacobs, 'Treading Deep Waters: Substantive Law Issues in Tuvalu's Threat to Sue the United States in the International Court of Justice,' Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal 14, no. 103 (2005).
172. The Alien Tort Statute provides: 'The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations', 370.
173. Rosemary Reed, 'Rising Seas and Disappearing Islands: Can Island Inhabitants Seek Redress under the Alien Tort Claims Act?', Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal 11 (2002): 399.
174. Beanal v. Freeport-McMoran, Inc., 969 F. Supp. 362, 365 (1997).
175. Ethan Jessup, 'Beanal v. Freeport-McMoran, Inc.: Anatomy of an International Environmental Tort Case', New England International and Comparative Law Annual (1999), 1, http://www.nesl.edu/userfiles/file/nejicl/VOL5/jessup.htm (accessed 18 August 2011).
176. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, General Assembly Resolution 260 A (III) of December 9, 1948 (entry into force 12 January 1951).
177. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (last amended January 2002), opened for signature July 17, 1998, 2187 UNTS 3 (entered into force 1 July 2002).
178. William A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law, The Crime of Crimes, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 257.
179. Nulyarimma v. Thompson [1999] FCA 1192; (1999) 96 FCR 153, 208, which demonstrates the difficulty of establishing the dolus specialis of genocide.
180. Prosector v. Krstic (Case No. IT-98-33-A), Partially Dissenting Opinion of Judge Shahabuddeen, April 19, 2004.
181. Case Concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgement, February 26, 2007, [344] citing Prosecutor v. Krstic (Case No. IT-98-33-T), Judgement, 2 August 2001.
182. Schabas, Genocide in International Law, The Crime of Crimes, 268.
183. Prosecutor v. Akayesu (Case No. ICTR-96-4-T), Judgement, 2 September 1998 [478].
184. Matthew Lippman, 'The Drafting of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide', Boston University International Law Journal 3 (1985): 1 at 62.
185. K. Glaser and S. Possony, Victims of Politics: The State of Human Rights, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1979), 37.
186. C.C. Tennant and M.E. Turpel, 'A Case Study of Indigenous Peoples: Genocide, Ethnocide and Self-Determination', Nordic Journal of International Law 59-60 (1990-1): 287.
187. G. Weiss, 'The Tragedy of Ethnocide: A Reply to Hippler', in Tribal Peoples and Development Issues: A Global Overview, ed. J.H. Bodley (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield, 1988), 124-33.
188. Ben Whitaker, 'Revised and Updated Report on the Question of the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide', UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1985/6, 17 [33].
189. UNESCO Latin-American Conference, Declaration of San Jose, December 11, 1981, UNESCO Doc. FS 82/WF.32 (1982), extracted in James Crawford, The Rights of Peoples (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), 202-3.
190. Aaron Schwabach, 'Ecocide and Genocide in Iraq: International Law, the Marsh Arabs and Environmental Damage in Non-International Armed Conflicts', Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy 15 (2004): 1.
191. Tennant and Turpel, 'A Case Study of Indigenous Peoples: Genocide, Ethnocide and Self-Determination', 287.
192. Kupreskic and others, ICTY, TC, 14 January 2000 (case no. IT-95-16-T) [630-1].
193. Antonio Cassese, International Criminal Law, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 114.
194. See generally, Ben Saul, 'Climate Change, Conflict and Security: International Law Challenges', Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 09/107, New Zealand Armed Forces Law Review (2009).
195. Nick Mabey, 'Delivering Climate Security: International Security Responses to a Climate Changed World', Whitehall Papers 69 (2007): 2.
196. Dan Smith and Janani Vivekananda, A Climate of Conflict: The Links between Climate Change, Peace and War (London: International Alert, 2007), http://www.international-alert. org/sites/default/files/publications/A_climate_of_conflict.pdf (accessed 30 October 2011), 3.
197. Saul, 'Climate Change, Conflict and Security: International Law Challenges', 13.
198. Preston, 'Climate Change Litigation', 169.
199. Havemann, 'Ignoring the Mercury in the Climate Change Barometer: Denying Indigenous Peoples' Rights', 2.
200. Posner, 'Climate Change and InternationalHumanRights Litigation:ACritical Appraisal', 1925.
201. See generally Patrick Thornberry, Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002).
202. Mabo v. Queensland No.2 (1992) 175 CLR 1, per J. Brennan, at 76.
203. Reynolds estimated there were approximately 20,000 Aboriginal deaths due to British invasion and occupation, Henry Reynolds, Frontier; Aborigines, Settlers and Land (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1987), 29-30; 53.
204. Other accounts place the figures much higher, with Mulvaney and White estimating more than 600,000 indigenous people had died as result of British invasion and occupation
205. D.J. Mulvaney and J. Peter White, Australians to 1788 (Broadway, NSW: Fairfax, Syme and Weldon Associates, 1987).
206. Trevorrow v. State of South Australia (No.5) [2007] SASC 285, as per J. Gray, at 1006, 1007. See generally, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing Them Home (Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997).
207. For a greater discussion on the deconstruction of the rationality, objectivity and neutrality of the Western legal system and a critical examination of the law's relationship with social hierarchies of power and the legitimisation of political rule, as reflected in divisions of class, race, and gender, see generally, Mark Tushnet, 'Critical Legal Studies: A Political History', Yale Law Journal 100 (1991): 244.
208. For a greater discussion on critical race theory, see the writings of Derrick Bell, Race, Racismand American Law, 6th edn (Little, Brown and Co, 2008), Mari Matsuda, 'Beyond and not beyond, black and white: deconstruction has a politics', in Francisco Valdes et al. (eds) Crossroads, Directions, and a New Critical Race Theory (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002). Richard Delgado, in Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge, 2nd edn (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), as well as pioneers in the field, including W.E.B. DuBois and Max Weber and Frantz Fanon. See generally, Kimberlé Crenshaw, ed., Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement (New York: The New Press, 1996) and Richard Delgado, Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge (Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1995).
209. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, GA res. UN Doc. A/conf.151/26 (Vol. 1), (14 June 1992).
210. See generally, Mark A. Drumbl, 'WagingWar Against theWorld: The Need to Move fromWar Crimes to Environmental Crimes', in The Environmental Consequences of War, Legal, Economic and Scientific Perspectives, ed. Jay E. Austin and Carl E. Bruch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 630.
211. Garnaut, The Garnaut Climate Change Review Final Report.
212. See generally Salick and Byg, Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change.
213. See generally, the Executive Summary, 'Report of the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change, 8-11.
214. See generally, Horne, 'Is Litigation an Effective Weapon for Pacific Island Nations in the War Against Climate Change'
215. Cordes-Holland, 'The Sinking of the Strait: The Implications of ClimateChange forTorres Straight Islanders' Human Rights Protected by the ICCPR';Havemann, 'Ignoring the Mercury in the Climate Change Barometer: Denying Indigenous Peoples' Rights'; Posner, 'Climate Change and International Human Rights Litigation: A Critical Appraisal'.
216. See generally, Drumbl, 'Waging War Against the World: The Need to Move from War Crimes to Environmental Crimes', 630.
217. Havemann, 'Ignoring the Mercury in the Climate Change Barometer: Denying Indigenous Peoples' Rights' 21.