In February 2018, a judicial colloquium was held in Lahore, Pakistan, to build the capacity of judges in Asia and the Pacific to help achieve climate justice and advance human dignity.
Around 250 participants, comprised of chief justices, senior and junior judges, and other legal stakeholders (barristers, prosecutors, civil society, and academicians) discussed the role of the judiciary in advancing environmental rights and climate justice.
The meeting was part of a global judicial programme delivered in partnership with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Professor John H. Knox, to enhance judicial capacity in environmental constitutionalism, identify gaps and opportunities, and support judges worldwide. It also represented a step forward in strengthening partnership with regional institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, vis-à-vis its regional judicial programme.
To consolidate the results of the colloquium, UN Environment is developing a Lahore Action Plan to serve as a regional roadmap of action for participating judiciaries and partner organizations to strengthen judiciaries with sustainable capacity to adjudicate environment and climate change cases.
The colloquium was hosted by the Lahore High Court and co-sponsored and organized in close partnership with the Punjab Judicial Academy, UN Environment, the Asian Development Bank and its Asian Judges Network on Environment, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, the World Commission on Environmental Law, the Global Judicial Institute on the Environment, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, and Widener University Delaware Law School.
For more information, please contact: Andrew.Raine[at]un.org or Angela.Kariuki[at]un.org.
