The UN Human Rights Council on October 8 recognized access to a clean and healthy environment as a fundamental right, formally adding weight to international efforts to combat climate change and its devastating effects, the organization wrote this on its site.
“The evidence is conclusive that these environmental issues directly affect people’s enjoyment of their fundamental rights,” said David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.
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UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet hails landmark recognition by the UN Human Rights Council that having a healthy environment is a human right.
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— United Nations Human Rights Council | #HRC55 (@UN_HRC) October 8, 2021
A new UN Human Rights Council resolution recognizes the damage caused by climate change and environmental degradation to millions of people worldwide. She also emphasizes that the most vulnerable are more severely affected. The resolution was adopted with the overwhelming support of the members of the Council, despite opposition from several countries.
In particular, the resolution was not supported by Russia, China, India, and Japan.
In her statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on Council member states to take decisive action to ensure immediate and effective protection of the right to a healthy environment and noted that the Council’s decision “clearly recognizes environmental degradation and climate change as interrelated crises. human rights.” Bachelet on October 8 called on States to take bold actions to give prompt and real effect to the right to a healthy environment, following a UN Human Rights Council’s landmark decision.
“We must build on this momentum to move beyond the false separation of environmental action and protection of human rights. It is all too clear that neither goal can be achieved without the other, and to that end, a balanced, human rights-based approach to sustainable development must be ensured,” she said. “During the run-up to the critical COP-26* meeting in Glasgow, and the negotiations of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, today’s Human Rights Council resolutions will hopefully stimulate a wider acceptance of such an approach.”
The High Commissioner also noted that an unprecedented number of killings of environmentalists had been registered last year, urging the Member States to take decisive action to protect them and empower them.
The resolution was adopted a few weeks before the crucial UN summit on climate change COP26, which will take place in early November in Glasgow.
The World Health Organization estimates that about 13.7 million deaths a year, or about 24.3% of the world’s total, are due to environmental risks such as air pollution and exposure to chemicals.
The Human Rights Council recognized for the first time that having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is indeed a human right in its resolution 48/13. The Council called on States to work together, and with other partners, to implement this newly recognized right. At the same time, through a second resolution (48/14), the Council also increased its focus on the human rights impacts of climate change by establishing a Special Rapporteur dedicated specifically to that issue.
“The Human Rights Council’s decisive action in recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is about protecting people and planet – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. It is also about protecting the natural systems which are basic preconditions to the lives and livelihoods of all people, wherever they live,” the High Commissioner said. “Having long called for such a step, I am gratified that the Council’s action today clearly recognizes environmental degradation and climate change as interconnected human rights crises.”
“Bold action is now required to ensure this resolution on the right to a healthy environment serves as a springboard to push for transformative economic, social, and environmental policies that will protect people and nature,” she added.
At the beginning of the current session of the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner described the triple planetary threats of climate change, pollution, and nature loss as the single most significant human rights challenge of our era.
The resolution on a healthy environment acknowledges the damage inflicted by climate change and environmental destruction on millions of people worldwide. It also underlines that the most vulnerable segments of the population are more acutely impacted. The issue will now pass on to the UN General Assembly for further consideration.
Bachelet paid tribute to the efforts of a diverse array of civil society organizations, including youth groups, national human rights institutions, indigenous peoples’ organizations, businesses, and many others worldwide who have been advocating for full international recognition of this right. She stressed the importance that the rights to participation, access to information, and access to justice are also respected in order for the human right to a healthy environment to be fully realized. Noting that an unprecedented number of environmental human rights defenders were reported killed last year, the High Commissioner urged States to take firm measures to protect and empower them.
*The 26th meeting of State Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In resolution 48/13, the Council called on States worldwide to work together, and with other partners, to implement this newly recognized right.
The text, proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland, was passed with 43 votes in favor and four abstentions – from Russia, India, China, and Japan.
At the same time, through a second resolution (48/14), the Council also increased its focus on the human rights impacts of climate change by establishing a Special Rapporteur dedicated specifically to that issue.
At the beginning of the current session of the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner described the triple planetary threats of climate change, pollution, and nature loss as the single most significant human rights challenge of our era.
The new resolution acknowledges the damage inflicted by climate change and environmental destruction on millions of people worldwide. It also underlines that the most vulnerable segments of the population are more acutely impacted.
Decades-long effort
Following the resolution’s passage, Michelle Bachelet paid tribute to the efforts of a diverse array of civil society organizations, including youth groups, national human rights institutions, indigenous peoples’ organizations, businesses, and many others.
The High Commissioner also noted that an unprecedented number of environmental human rights defenders were reported killed last year, urging the Member States to take firm measures to protect and empower them.
Costa Rica’s ambassador Catalina Devandas Aguilar, one of the co-sponsors of the resolution, said the decision will “send a powerful message to communities around the world struggling with climate hardship that they are not alone.”
The decision comes weeks before the crucial UN climate change summit, COP26, happening in early November in Glasgow.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), 24% of all global deaths, roughly 13.7 million deaths a year, are linked to the environment due to risks such as air pollution and chemical exposure.
