On Thursday, 20 May, the President of the UN Human Rights Council convened an informal dialogue on human rights in the context of climate change, food security and health, with High Commissioner Volker Türk delivering opening remarks.
Discussions revolved around the urgency of ensuring a coordinated response to climate change and the value of a human rights-centred approach to tackling the global crisis.
The President of the Security Council and the High Commissioner underscored the danger of the current situation, as did representatives of international organizations, who called for urgent action.
Amy Pope, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM); Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO); Celeste Sauro, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); Kelly Tallman Clements, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Rebecca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Katharina Boehme, Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Climate change has far-reaching effects on the well-being of individuals and societies as a whole, including displacement, increased risk of famine due to disruptions to food supply chains, and widening inequalities. “Climate change takes lives,” the High Commissioner summarized. WMO and WTO highlighted the severity of the impacts the planet is experiencing. Disease, more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods, and increased desertification are already occurring in many regions and will worsen unless countries take action.
Climate change is no longer a potential threat that we should prepare for, but an ongoing phenomenon that is having concrete effects on millions of people, the speakers stressed.
How to move forward?
From the High Commissioner to countries and international organisations, everyone agreed that climate change is a human rights issue.
The High Commissioner asserted that “States have positive human rights obligations to protect human rights from climate change violations. Rights such as to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, health and food must act as accountability mechanisms, as they compel states to act on specific issues.”
For UN Environment, advocating a human rights narrative puts social justice and equity at the heart of the discussion, humanizing efforts to combat climate change, save lives and protect the rights of the most vulnerable, and ultimately strengthening the implementation of climate change mitigation efforts.
Various countries echoed these calls for climate justice and cooperation, with small island and coastal states noting that climate change threatens their existence, and Latin American and African countries calling for recognition of common but differentiated responsibilities behind the climate crisis.
Countries from the North and South agreed that the international framework needs to be reformed to promote urgent and transformative action. A human rights-based approach would encourage actors to be more assertive and strengthen support mechanisms for the most vulnerable groups, such as small island states, countries agreed.
What do we do?
Civil society speakers urged states to respect and protect environmental human rights defenders, who are often on the front lines of response efforts, and the groups and communities most vulnerable to climate change.
In our remarks, ISHR spoke of the central role and increasing criminalization of environmental human rights defenders, including indigenous peoples, peasant movements and environmental civil society organizations around the world.
We highlighted States' repeated use of excessive and disproportionate force against environmental defenders, including surveillance measures, as well as their overly broad use of criminal, administrative and civil measures, including Strategic Public Participation Lawsuits (SLAPPs).
We also expressed concern about increasing restrictions on civil society participation in multilateral climate and environmental forums, particularly in forums held in countries with governments hostile to independent NGOs and activists. Bans on remote participation, denial of visas, and arbitrary and discriminatory participation requirements are some of the most common obstacles imposed on advocates and civil society.
