Human Rights-Based Litigation in Citizen Lawsuits on the Environment: A Study of Indonesian and Netherlands Court Decisions

Abstract Human rights-based litigation departing from citizen lawsuits has excellent potential for increasing government compliance with international standards, including climate change. This paper is a doctrinal study that compares lawsuits filed by citizens about environmental issues between Indonesia and the Netherlands, including practices in the European Union. The results show that Indonesian courts tend to lock environmental cases in the corridor of unlawful acts by the government. Meanwhile, Dutch courts, including the European Union, are more progressive by basing their decisions on international and regional human rights principles. Indonesian courts have not been able to base on aspects of human rights violations in environmental litigation. This is due to different and inadequate legal constructions, including human rights-based evidentiary mechanisms in environmental litigation. The impact is on the effectiveness of litigation that encourages ambitious policies in handling climate change. This paper suggests implementing Using human rights in Indonesian environmental lawsuits can help prevent environmental damage and make sure the government is responsible.