With only a week to go before the next Scottish Parliament election, what commitments have each party made on environmental rights and access to justice? ...
Right to a healthy environment
A healthy planet, a fair society: new UN guidance links human rights and the environment
A new General Comment published by the United Nations makes clear that 'a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is an essential precondition for the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.' ...
Advocacy Manifesto sets out route map to secure environmental rights
ERCS today launches our new Advocacy Manifesto, setting out a route map of how every person’s right to live in a healthy environment can be respected, protected, and fulfilled ...
Landmark climate change ruling reaffirms States’ obligations to protect the right to a healthy environment
The International Court of Justice has issued a landmark Advisory Opinion on States’ obligations regarding climate change ...
Everyone’s Environment: Recommendations for more inclusive environmental policy in Scotland
Last September, we were commissioned by NPC’s Everyone’s Environment project to co-produce recommendations for making environmental policy more inclusive. This blog shares the project’s resources ...
Environmental and human rights groups urge UK government to back binding Council of Europe Protocol on the right to a healthy environment – press release
Over sixty organisations have written to UK government ministers ahead of a major meeting of the Council of Europe, urging them to back proposals for an additional binding Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) that would finally recognise the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. An Additional Protocol would strengthen the rights of all 675 million citizens living in Council of Europe member states. Recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment would harmonise standards in the region, provide legal certainty, strengthen domestic environmental legislation, protect vulnerable communities, and support environmental defenders. It would also reaffirm the European Court of Human Rights’ legitimacy in addressing matters related to environmental rights, allowing it to build on its significant and growing environmental jurisprudence, and improving the protection of lives and livelihoods for current and future generations. The letter, coordinated by organisations including Friends of the Earth, Wildlife & Countryside Link, and the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS), follows an intervention from UN appointed experts on human rights and the environment, who added their voice to the growing calls for an Additional Protocol recognising the right. On 13 May, the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers’ Drafting Group on Human Rights and the Environment will decide whether to move forward in drafting an Additional Protocol recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the ECHR. The move is backed by countries including Portugal, Slovenia, Iceland, Georgia, and France, but the UK has yet to make …
Scottish charities call on Holyrood to make environmental policies more inclusive – press release
Ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election, human rights and environmental organisations have urged Scottish political parties to improve how environmental policies affect marginalised and disadvantaged groups ...
Dismay and concern after Scottish Government abandons flagship Human Rights Bill
The Programme for Government announced yesterday signals the Scottish Government’s abject failure to deliver on their promise of a Scottish Human Rights Bill including the right to a healthy environment ...
