Climate Change and Socio-Economic Rights Duties in Nigeria (original) (raw)

Key global climate change instruments, in particular, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol and the recently adopted Paris Agreement emphasise the importance of climate change mitigation actions in developing states. Generally, resolutions linking climate change to human rights, for instance, from the United Nations Human rights Council and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' rights also call upon states to ensure human rights in climate actions. While the implementation of mitigation actions has the potential to enhance the realisation of socioeconomic rights in developing states, climate instruments which govern their implementation have not been articulated in terms of duties of states to ensure that end. This article clarifies states' duties under international climate change related instruments to ensure socioeconomic rights in mitigation actions. It then contends legitimate expectation and the existence of complementary legislation and policies as legal bases for their application in Nigeria.