|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Wed, 13th Oct 2021 15:50:00 |
|
It’s Wednesday, October 13, and the United Nations has recognized that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right |
Last Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution recognizing for the first time in history that access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a fundamental human right. The council also approved a separate resolution to establish a Special Rapporteur to investigate the links between climate change and human rights violations.
Though the resolution is nonbinding — meaning that the 47 countries that belong to the council don’t necessarily have to apply it in their national decision-making — experts said the decision can help climate and environmental advocates around the world in their fight against polluting industries.
The landmark decision — which was opposed by a few countries, including the U.S. — is a long-awaited step toward the recognition of “environmental degradation and climate change as interconnected human rights crises,” said Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The push to recognize the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment can be traced back to the 1970s when the Stockholm Declaration established that all people are entitled to “an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity.” Since then, the right to a healthy environment has been recognized in 150 countries. Two U.N. Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights and the Environment have recommended that the Human Rights Council recognize the right since 2018. Building on this momentum, Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland introduced the text of the resolution, which 43 of the 47 states on the council voted in favor of.
Read original full article
|
| |
|
|
Back to Featured Articles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Energy News
|
|
| |
| |
