Contenido principal del artículo

Mónica Feria-Tinta
Simon C. Milnes
Este artículo analiza la reciente Opinión Consultiva de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos sobre el Medio Ambiente y los Derechos Humanos y sostiene que constituye un hito que reorienta efectivamente el derecho ambiental internacional. El artículo está dividido como sigue: En primer lugar, analiza los aspectos más destacados de la Opinión Consultiva, entre otros (1) El derecho a un medio ambiente sano como derecho vinculante; (2) La Opinión Consultiva como un hito en el desarrollo gradual de la jurisprudencia internacional sobre las obligaciones de derechos humanos transfronterizas (o “diagonales”) (es decir, la posibilidad de que los individuos que no están bajo la jurisdicción territorial del Estado presentendemandas de derechos humanos cuya responsabilidad internacional por daños ambientales se invoca). En segundo lugar, el artículo contextualiza la Opinión Consultiva al analizar lo que consideramos cuatro vectores claves que afectan actualmente la trayectoria del desarrollo en curso del derecho ambiental internacional, y cómo los avances logrados en la Opinión Consultiva encajan con esos desarrollos. En tercer lugar, coloca la Opinión Consultiva en el contexto más amplio de los desarrollos que se dirigen hacia una reorientación necesaria en el derecho ambiental internacional, en particular: la integración (o des-fragmentación) del derecho internacional, la operacionalización de los principios ambientales en las normas legales a nivel práctico y un enfoque en remedios. Se argumenta que en tanto que el mundo experimenta la presión por normas de derecho medioambiental más efectivas y con consecuencias legales si son violadas, ejemplos de pensamientos más sofisticados e innovadores en materia de derecho del medio ambiente actual, vienen emanando de los países del hemisferio sur, como lo confirma la Opinión Consultiva.

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Feria-Tinta, M., & Milnes, S. C. (2019). Derecho ambiental internacional para el siglo xxi: la constitucionalización del derecho a un medio ambiente sano en la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos Opinión Consultiva número 23. ACDI - Anuario Colombiano De Derecho Internacional, 12. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/acdi/a.7568

Mónica Feria-Tinta, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia

Asistente Editorial

Facultad de Jurisprudencia

Universidad del Rosario

Simon C. Milnes

The authors are barristers (advocates), members of the English Bar who practise at 20 Essex Street Chambers, 20 Essex Street, London, WC2R 3AL, United Kingdom (mferia-tinta@20essexst.com; smilnes@20essexst.com). Mr Milnes wishes to thank and acknowledge Santiago Diaz-Cediel and Ignacio F. Grazioso for a long interchange of ideas in the course of preparing an amicus curiae brief and oral submissions to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on its recent Advisory Opinion discussed below, under the auspices of the Georgetown University Human Rights Institute.

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