Donia Human Rights Center Lecture. The Human Right to a Healthy Environment

Please note: This panel discussion will be offered in person on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus at 555 Weiser Hall (500 Church Street) and will be simultaneously available via Zoom Webinar.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required if you intend to participate virtually. Once you've registered, the joining information will be sent to your email. Register at: https://myumi.ch/XezWb

The Donia Human Rights Center will follow state, local, and University of Michigan guidelines for in-person events.

In October of this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council recognized for the first time the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Why did the Council finally adopt this right? What effect will recognition have? How might the right contribute to the ongoing application of human rights to environmental issues such as climate change and the conservation of biodiversity?

Featuring: John H. Knox, Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law, Wake Forest University; UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, 2012-2018

Commentator: Jennifer Haverkamp, Professor from Practice, Michigan Law School and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Graham Family Director, University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute

This event is co-sponsored by: University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Weiser Diplomacy Center and International Policy Center.

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John H. Knox, Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law, Wake Forest University; UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, 2012-2018

John H. Knox is the Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law at Wake Forest University. He received his law degree from Stanford Law School with honors in 1987, and worked as an attorney at the U.S. Department of State and at a private law firm before joining academia in 1998. Between 1999 and 2005, he chaired a national advisory committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. From 2012 to 2018, he served as the first UN Independent Expert, then its first Special Rapporteur, on the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. He is on the board of the Universal Rights Group and on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law. He has written widely on human rights law and international environmental law and on the convergence of those fields. Recent works include The Human Right to a Healthy Environment (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

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Jennifer Haverkamp, Professor from Practice, Michigan Law School and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; Graham Family Director, University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute

Jennifer Haverkamp is the Graham Family Director of the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute, a professor of practice at Michigan Law School, and a professor from practice at the Ford School of Public Policy. She also co-chaired U-M President Schlissel’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality. She previously held a number of senior government and NGO positions in global climate policy and international trade, including Ambassador and Special Representative for Environment and Water and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative. In 2016 she led the State Department’s successful negotiations of the Kigali HFC-phasedown amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s landmark CORSIA agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions from global aviation.

If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us at umichhumanrights@umich.edu. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.