ABSTRACT
This chapter is intended to explore the interface between human rights violations of human health and legal regimes intended for environmental protection. The time seems appropriate to explore this topic, on which a number of initiatives have converged over the last decade, and particularly over the last year. Examples include:
• the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Human Rights Council Resolution (16th Session) of 12 April 2011 on ‘Human rights and the environment’;
• preparatory meetings under way for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012;
• the World Health Organization (WHO) work on the social determinants of health in 2008; and
• the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) Resolution 2002/31 (22 April 2002), addressing ‘The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’.
