Speaking Points for Ms Hanne Juncher, Director of Security, Integrity and Rule of Law (DGI)
Dear Madam President,
Madam Registrar,
Esteemed Judges and representatives from national Superior Courts,
Dear colleagues
I am very pleased to be here for the Superior Courts Network Forum. I am particularly pleased that the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe is able to continue to support the Court in organising this important event.
Our support is possible thanks to a multilateral co-operation project entitled “Enhancing subsidiarity: support to the ECHR Knowledge-sharing and superior courts dialogue”, which is a joint endeavour implemented by the Court’s Registry and DG I together.
The project works to expand the reach of the ECHR Knowledge-sharing platform to users all over Europe. We hope also in non-official languages as of early 2025.
Another element of the Project relevant to the focus of the Forum is its emphasis on strengthening the use of the Platform by national courts and their ability to identify Convention-related issues and address them in a coherent manner.
Providing national judges with access to the latest knowledge on the ECHR is particularly important when we are dealing with such challenging topics as climate litigation.
This issue of climate change and the environment is one that the Council of Europe is addressing in different ways and with difference means.
At the Council of Europe Summit in Reykjavik last year, the Heads of States and Governments stressed that “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is essential for the full exercise of human rights for current and future generations”, and they initiated the “Reykjavík process” to strengthen the work of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights and the environment.
Then, at the Ministerial Session two weeks ago, the Foreign Ministers reviewed the implementation of the Reykjavik process and “welcomed the strengthening of work related to human rights and the environment across the Council of Europe”.
They also “invited its Deputies to set up an ad hoc intergovernmental multidisciplinary group to prepare a Council of Europe Strategy on the Environment and a related action plan” and “strongly encouraged member States to implement its Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)20 on human rights and the protection of the environment”, which is a key guiding document in this field.
Both the Committee of Ministers and its Presidency in a Declaration on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Council of Europe specifically noted the ongoing work:
- To examine the need for, and feasibility of, possible new legal instruments in the field of human rights and the environment;
- And to complete the work on the new Convention on Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law.
Since September 2022, the Steering Committee for Human Rights, the CDDH, has been preparing a report on the need for, and feasibility of, a new instrument on human rights and the environment.
- The main issue in this work is whether the Council of Europe should adopt a binding instrument on the right to a healthy environment, which was recognised by the UN General Assembly in July 2022.
- One idea is to do this through an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, although this raises a number of complex problems as regards fundamental aspects of the Convention system. Another option is through a protocol to the European Social Charter.
The CDDH was expected to adopt their report at the end of June, when they holds their 100th meeting in Helsinki, but this has been postponed because of the need to reflect on the implications of the recent climate change rulings of the Court.
The CDDH is now expected to report to the Committee of Ministers at the end of the year, after which States will decide on the mandate they wish to give, or not, to prepare one or more new instruments.
The second strand concerns a new convention on the protection of the environment through criminal law, replacing the previous convention dating from 1998 which has never entered into force.
The drafting work has been going on since the beginning of 2023 in a Committee of experts on the protection of the environment through criminal law, the PC-ENV.
The new convention will be the first legally binding instrument with a global reach, i.e. open to accession by non-member States, to combat environmental crime, helping States to prevent, prosecute and punish the most serious criminal offenses, such as pollution, hazardous waste, illegal logging, wildlife trade, and so on. A draft convention must be presented to the Committee of Ministers by the end of the year.
Another important field of the Council of Europe work on the environment is in the area of social rights. The European Committee of Social Rights has extensive relevant practice already, relating, among other things, to the right to health, recognised in the European Social Charter.
The environment is one of the contemporary social rights challenges that are going to be discussed in a month’s time at the CoE High-Level Conference on the European Social Charter being organised in Vilnius under the auspices of the Presidency of Lithuania of the Committee of Ministers.
Senior officials competent in the field of social rights and social policy will notably continue the discussion of recent decisions by the Committee of Ministers on reform of the Charter system – including on the application of the European Social Charter to new or emerging social policy challenges, such as the right to a safe and healthy environment.
We are also working to strengthen our action in the field of human rights and business, with particular emphasis on human rights and environmental protection. For that we are relying on the 2016 Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states “on human rights and business”. The CDDH has already focused its attention on what this recommendation means for the environmental due diligence responsibilities of businesses.
A cooperation project on Human Rights and environmentally responsible business practises is under preparation and will hopefully soon be supporting our member States, including their judiciaries, to better protect and respect human rights and the environment in business activities.
All these actions aim at providing guidance and practical support to member States to help them be able to address challenges as regards human rights and the environment through policy, legislation, and judicial action.
It is clear that further co-operation, between member States and with the Council of Europe, will be important, including through fora like this one. We look forward to being part of that work.
Thank you for your attention, I wish you a very good and fruitful discussion.