The 'constitutionalization' process of the international environmental law in Colombia
| Autor | Alejandro Gomez Velasquez |
| Cargo | Magister in Constitutional Law and LL.M in International Legal Studies, Associate Professor in Public Law, EAFIT University |
| Páginas | 1-31 |
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artículo de reflexión
The “constitutionalization” process of the international environmental law in Colombia*
El proceso de “constitucionalización” del Derecho internacional ambiental en Colombia
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14482/dere.44.7167
Alejandro Gómez - Velásquez**
Universidad EAFIT (Colombia)
* This paper is the result of the academic activity of the author during the Seminar “International Environmental Law and policy” with Dr. Prof. David Hunter at Washington College of Law.
** Magister in Constitutional Law and LL.M in International Legal Studies, Associate Professor in Public Law, EAFIT University.
Correspondencia: carrera 49 nº. 7 Sur-50, Medellín (Colombia). agomezv1@eafit.edu.co.
REVISTA DE DERECHO
N.º 45, Barranquilla, 2016 ISSN: 0121-8697 (impreso) ISSN: 2145-9355 (on line)
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Abstract
The Colombian Constitution has a particular interest for the environmental issues. As part of it, the Constitutional framework includes the possibility to introduce international environmental norms to the Colombian legal system. As aȱgeneralȱruleǰȱtheȱConstitutionȱprovidesȱaȱprocessȱofȱratięcationȱforȱinternatio- nal norms to make them part of Colombian legal system. But exceptionally, the Constitutional Court has recognized that some international norms could make part of the Constitution and at same normative level. This doctrine has been called as “block of constitutionality”. In recent rulings, the Constitutional Court has held that some international environmental norms made also part of the Colombian Constitution and share the same legal hierarchy. This is precisely the case of the international environmental norm of the Precautionary Principle, for whom the Court has held expressly that it has a Constitutional status. Due to the implications of this recent holding to the Colombian and international environmental law, the present paper addresses the legal background of these jurisprudence, places it in a comparative perspective and suggests some perspectives from this seminal doctrine.
Palabras clave: Constitution, International Environmental Law, Precautionary Principle, Colombian Constitutional Court.
Resumen
La Constitución Política de Colombia tiene un interés particular en los asuntos ambientales. Como parte de ello, el marco constitucional incluye la posibilidad de introducir normas ambientales internacionales al sistema jurídico colombia-no. Como regla general, y una vez hayan surtido el proceso que la Constitución establece, estas normas entrarán al ordenamiento jurídico nacional y tendrán el mismo rango que una ley de la República. Sin embargo, excepcionalmente, la Corte Constitucional ha reconocido que algunas normas del derecho internacional pueden llegar a ser consideradas parte de la Constitución y, por ende, tienen su mismo rango normativo. Esta doctrina ha sido llamada “Bloque de Constitucionalidad”. En fallos recientes, la Corte Constitucional ha sostenido que algunas normas ambientales internacionales hacen parte de la Constitución, a través del Bloque de Constitucionalidad, y por ende tienen su misma jerarquía normativa. Este es el caso particular del principio internacional ambiental de Precaución, el cual para la Corte ha sido “constitucionalizado”. Debido a las implicaciones de esta reciente pero ya consistente posición jurisprudencial para el derecho colombiano e internacional, este artículo aborda el contexto de dicha jurisprudencia, la ubica desde una perspectiva comparada y sugiere algunas perspectivas para esta incipiente doctrina constitucional.
Keywords: Constitución, Derecho Internacional Ambiental, Principio de Precaución, Corte Constitucional.
Fecha de recepción: 22 de octubre de 2014 Fecha de aceptación: 7 de mayo de 2015
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THE “CONSTITUTIONALIZATION” PROCESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN COLOMBIA
INTRODUCTION
Most environmental problems are global and trans-boundary issues that require international and cooperative solutions. International environmental law is the body of norms that refer to the cooperative and inter-governmental strategies to make front to the global environmental challenges. However, it is not a secret that this cooperative logic is not working on the speed and depth that the environmental issues require, due, in part, to the force that the principle of State sovereignty still has in international relations.
The effects of this tragedy can be evidenced in two different situations. On one side, the self - interest logic of the States does not allowed the creation of an adequate international environmental system that will be able to address all environmental challenges. On the other, the state-centric logic has created a gap between the already existing international environmental norms and its effectiveness. This second situation refers to the effectiveness of the international environmental law to solve the underlying environmental problems, and how some states are reluctant to implement it and comply with international obligations even when they previously have adopted or ratified these norms.
This paper will address this last particular issue. Doing so, it is clear that the effectiveness of the environmental international law will depends on an adequate “domestication” (Hunter, Salzman & Zaelke, 2006) process of the international obligations that bind not only the State´s behavior, but also citizens and private entities. In rule of law States, the incorporation or “domestication” process implies the technical question on how these norms will become part of the legal system of the State and which the legal level of these new norms is in the normative hierarchy. Both issues have significant relevance because, according to the procedure and the highest level that a norm has in a constitutional system, the compliance and effectiveness of the norm must increase, at least in theory. Therefore, knowing the mechanisms of “domestication” of the international environmental law and particularly the normative level that these norms would occupy in a domestic
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Alejandro Gomez- Velasquez
legal system could have a direct relation with the level of compliance and thus effectiveness of the international norm.
From a comparative perspective this is a current issue. The increasing globalization of environmental law and the harmonization of international and national environmental laws impose a duty on States to design, develop and implement policies, and pass legislation that integrate the proliferating environmental norms and principles into their legal systems. However, the best ways to do that, the role of the public institutions, and the normative level of the international norms in the municipal systems are ongoing questions without a definitive answer. Good examples of this issue are the current discussion in Europe about the direct application of international environmental treaties by the European Court of Justice (Marsden, 2011), the recent constitutionalization of some environmental principles by the French Parliament through the Charter of the Environment (Faisini, Llie & Artene, 2012), or the judicial decisions in India and in Pakistan to incorporate some international environmental norms to its legal systems (Jobodwana, 2011)).
In this reasoning, Colombia is a constitutional and rule of law State. The Colombian Constitution put special attention to the environmental issues and thus has been considered as an “Ecological Constitution”. Also, the Constitution establishes a mandate to the State to internationalize the environmental relations and provides a special procedure for the approval and ratification of the international norms. From this constitutional framework, in principle, the international norms ratified by Colombia will have the normative level of an ordinary law, and therefore, shall irradiate the content and interpretation of norms of equal or lower level, according to the legal hierarchy.
However, in recent rulings, the Constitution Court has held that some international environmental norms, which initially were conceived as statutory provisions, nowadays have a constitutional-based hierarchy and have been used as a constitutional parameter both to abstract and concrete constitutional reviews. With this decision, the Court took a similar position like in Europe, India or Pakistan in which the judicial
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THE “CONSTITUTIONALIZATION” PROCESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN COLOMBIA
authorities have taken a preponderant role in the incorporation of international environmental norms to the municipal systems. This novelty position of the Court has significant relevance for the Colombian legal system. From a normative perspective, if a norm is conceived as a constitutional-based-principle, then it implies, at least, that this provision must irradiate the content and interpretation of the other norms of the lower level. Also, with the constitutional recognition of these international environmental principles, they become constitutional parameters and their compliance and effectiveness could be claimed by any constitutional mechanism. These are some of the consequences, among others.
Hence, the purpose of this paper is to understand the new holding of the Colombian Constitutional Court about the “constitutionalization” of some international environmental principles. Doing so, this paper will pay special attention to the constitutional framework, the legal arguments and the cases that the Constitutional Court has used to hold its position. With this...
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