Delivering climate security: International coordination around security threats from climate change
IN THIS ISSUE
PROGRAMMES
THE HAGUE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW FACILITY
Following the proposals of the feasibility study carried out by the
T.M.C. Asser Institute and the IES presented in May 2009, the two
project partners decided to take the next step in the set up of The
Hague Environmental Law Facility (HELF).
One of the most pressing issues in international environmental law and
its defining elements, the Multilateral Environmental Agreements
(MEAs), is compliance and enforcement. To address this lack, which
persists since the launch of UNEPs Environmental Law Program
(Montevideo Program) in 1982, the IES and the T.M.C. Asser Institute
are envisaging an integrated approach with various applications.
The use of the latest remote sensing technologies in partnership with
the GMES program of the European Union and a CSR-component involving
the private sector are credible means for settling environmental
disputes and increase the capacity of governments to comply with the
respective MEAs. The training component conducted by organisations
based in The Hague will be directed to civil servants, diplomats,
enforcing agencies and judiciary actors to improve implementation and
education on existing and latest developments in international environmental law.
In the spirit of the previous two fora a Conference on
“Private International Regulation and Public Supervision” will be held this
year on 7 and 8 December, in the Peace Palace, in The Hague.
The opening day of the Conference will focus on the
discourse between public and private actors regarding the questions when, where
and what kind of public supervision on private international regulation is
desirable.
The seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility will
cover the issue of international regulation of private business conduct in the
fields of human rights and environment. Participants will try to come to a
conclusion whether corporate social responsibility can be ‘hardened’ into
concrete international standards that will establish criteria for
responsibility of private companies. Furthermore, this seminar will discuss the
prospects of an international dispute resolution mechanism for business and
human rights.
