New Technologies in International Law / Tymofeyeva, Crhák et al.

technologies generally needs great care and thoughtfulness. And we must put people at the centre of any solution.” 178 The main focus of the paper is on the interconnection between the emerging international norms on AI and the evolvement of the right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment (hereinafter “R2HE”). The aim of the paper is to answer the question: “Do the adopted or draft international norms regulating the use of AI reflect on the newly recognized right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment? Such aim is fulfilled through analysis of international legally binding, as well as non binding documents on AI adopted by international organizations, namely the United Nations (hereinafter “UN”), the European Union (hereinafter “EU”) and the Council of Europe (hereinafter “CoE”). The author also focuses on the right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment, particularly its content and international recognition. The recognition of this fundamental human right highlights the transformative potential of taking a rights-based approach to the UN Sustainable Development Goals . 179 1. The Right to Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment The international human rights law is, as many branches of public international law are, still developing. In the last years, the focus of the international community is on the recognition of several human rights connected to the environment. The newest addition to the international catalogue of human rights is the R2HE, which was recognized by the UN General Assembly resolution no. 76/300 in July 2022 as a human right. 180 This recognition followed the resolution no. 48/13 of the UN Human Rights Council, which acknowledged the right in October 2021 as a human right that is important for the enjoyment of human rights. 181 Although this right has been recognized, in various forms, in regional agreements 182 and in most national constitutions (there are 110 States where this right enjoys constitutional protection), 183 it has not been adopted in a human rights agreement of global application, and only 178 OHCHR, TÜRK, V., ‘Addressing climate and digital challenges: International Geneva’, (2023), . 179 UNGA, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, David R. Boyd: The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: a catalyst for accelerated action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, A/77/284, (2022), para 22. 180 UNGA, ‘Right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment’, A/RES/76/300, (2022), para 1. 181 UN Human Rights Council, The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, A/HRC/ RES/48/13, (2021), para 1. 182 See for instance the preamble of the Aarhus Convention (1998); Art. 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1991); Art. 38 of the Arab Charter of the Human Rights (2004); Art. 11 of the Protocol of San Salvador (1969). 183 UN Human Rights Council, Right to a healthy environment: good practices: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, A/HRC/43/53, 30 December 2019, para 10.

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