A/HRC/25/53 mechanisms that allow defenders to communicate their grievances, claim responsibilities, and obtain effective redress for violations, without fear of intimidation (A/68/262, paras. 70–73). Other special rapporteurs, including those for housing, education, and hazardous substances and wastes, have also emphasized the importance of access to remedies within the scope of their mandates.36 42. At the regional level, the European Court has stated that individuals must “be able to appeal to the courts against any decision, act or omission where they consider that their interests or their comments have not been given sufficient weight in the decision-making process.”37 More generally, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have stated that the American Convention on Human Rights requires States to provide access to judicial recourse for claims alleging the violation of their rights as a result of environmental harm.38 The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States has stressed the need for the State to hold accountable actors who infringe human rights through oil pollution, and to ensure adequate reparation for victims.39 43. International environmental instruments support an obligation to provide for effective remedies. Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration states: “Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided.” Many environmental treaties establish obligations for States to provide for remedies in specific areas. For instance, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea requires States to ensure that recourse is available within their legal systems to natural or juridical persons for prompt and adequate compensation or other relief for damage caused by pollution of the marine environment (art. 235). Some agreements establish detailed liability regimes; a leading example is the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage.40 B. Substantive obligations 44. States have obligations to protect against environmental harm that interferes with the enjoyment of human rights. As section II explains, environmental harm may threaten a very broad spectrum of human rights, including the rights to life and health. The content of States’ specific obligations to protect against environmental harm therefore depends on the content of their duties with respect to the particular rights threatened by the harm. 45. Those duties may vary from right to right. For example, States have general obligations to respect and ensure rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (art. 2, para. 1), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 2, para. 1) and the American Convention on Human Rights (art. 1), to take steps towards the full realization of the rights recognized in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to secure the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights (art. 1), and to recognize and give effect to the rights in the African Charter (art. 1). When environmental harm threatens or infringes the enjoyment of a right protected by one or more of these agreements, States’ general obligations relating to the right (e.g. to respect and ensure it, or to take steps towards its full realization) apply with respect to the environmental threat or infringement. 36 37 38 39 40 12 Report on special procedures, sect. III.A.3. Taşkin v. Turkey, para. 119. Inter-American report, sect. III.A.3. SERAP v. Nigeria, para. 97. See generally MEA report, sect. III.A.3.