40th anniversary Utrecht University's Human Rights Centre

Keynote address by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet
2 October 2021

Distinguished participants,
Dear students,

I am pleased to join you today in celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Utrecht University's Human Rights Centre.

This celebration comes at a challenging time, when we are facing global threats to human rights across the globe.

COVID-19 has shown us a world immersed in human rights gaps – and it has made them deeper and wider. The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of political, economic and health systems and laid bare systemic discrimination and deep structural inequalities everywhere, both within and between countries.

At the same time, our world continues to suffer with climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. This triple planetary crisis created and sustained by human action – and inaction – is also directly and severely impacting a broad range of rights, including the rights to adequate food, water, education, housing, health, development, and even life itself.

One of the greatest uncertainty about these challenges is what policy-makers will do about them.

Earlier this year I told the United Nations Human Rights Council that “navigating a clear way out of the complex COVID-19 crisis, and towards an inclusive, green, sustainable and resilient future, will be the work of this generation of world leaders – or their downfall.”

So, in the midst of so many threats to human lives, livelihoods and rights, allow me to share with you some thoughts on how grave they are – and, on how, together, we can overcome them.

Recent months have unleashed extreme and murderous climate events on people in every region: monumental fires in Siberia and California; huge sudden floods in China, Germany and Turkey; Arctic heatwaves leading to unprecedented methane emissions; and the persistence of interminable drought, from Morocco and Senegal to Siberia, potentially forcing millions of people into misery, hunger and displacement.

Meanwhile, pollution – which is fuelled by the same patterns of unsustainable consumption and production as climate change – is generating an estimated 1 in 6 of all premature deaths, while the extinction crisis also creates devastating impacts on human rights and ways of life.

A safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is the foundation of human life. The interlinked crises of pollution, climate change and biodiversity act as threat multipliers – amplifying conflicts, tensions and structural inequalities, and forcing people into increasingly vulnerable situations. As these environmental threats intensify, they will constitute the single greatest challenge to human rights in our era.

The impacts are everywhere to be seen.

In Madagascar, hundreds of thousands of people are facing extreme hunger after four years without rainfall, leading the World Food Programme to warn of "the world’s first climate change-induced famine". At least 1.14 million people in the Southern region are in need of emergency food, and this crisis for Madagascar’s people and its development is expected to further deteriorate.

The humanitarian emergency in Sahel countries is also fuelled by climate change, which according to last month's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has been more severe and rapid across Africa than elsewhere. Increasing desertification; long droughts followed by flash-floods; and unequal access to natural resources amplify existing vulnerabilities, especially food insecurity. o date, four million people across the Sahel have been displaced, according to UNHCR estimates, and the humanitarian emergency is becoming "an exceptional crisis", according to the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA).

Countries in Central Asia are also particularly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events, whose impacts are amplified by shortfalls in human rights protection. Water shortages are currently leading to insufficient irrigation and loss of crops, damaging food security. The impact on people in situations of poverty is magnified by inadequate public participation in decision-making, in particular, at the local level; insufficient State support to farmers, including in strategic planning efforts at central, local and self-government levels; and weak accountability for rural development and risk response. Affected people routinely face challenges in accessing social protection and other public services and communicating their needs.

These factors are all entry points for policy reforms that could make a transformative difference for the lives and hopes of millions of people across the region – helping to resolve grievances and keeping communities and societies on track to fulfill the SDGs.

Access to water is particularly threatened in the Middle East and North Africa. Immediate action should be taken for more sustainable environmental and resource management policies to address this persistent issue. With rainfall in the region projected to decline by 20 to 40 per cent in a world that is 2°C hotter – and up to 60 per cent if warming reaches 4°C – this is a major, long-term challenge.

Forecasts of this gravity and impact – including on displacement – cannot be ignored by any policy-maker, anywhere. They will have cascading economic, social, cultural and political effects that will impact every society in the world.

Our Regional Office in the Pacific has been alerting stakeholders about the need for immediate global, regional and national climate action, including stronger work to protect the most vulnerable. We have also undertaken joint efforts through the Pacific Climate Change Migration Human Security programme, which aims to support a new Pacific regional policy framework for climate change-induced mobility – whether internal displacement or migration across borders, compelled or by choice. I have encouraged all countries of the region, notably member states of the Pacific Island Forum, to support development of a regional human rights-based framework for climate mobility with UN assistance.

The Central American “Dry Corridor”, or Corredor Seco region – particularly in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras – is a striking example of the impact of climate change on poverty, displacement and fundamental human rights. Declining rainfalls and increasing hurricanes are creating a fast-moving humanitarian crisis. According to OCHA, almost 8 million people are estimated to be acutely food-insecure in 2021 in northern Central America, and nearly 8.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance – a 60% increase since the beginning of 2020. The World Bank has suggested that if no action is taken to prevent the effects of climate change, 3.9 million people in Central America and Mexico could be forced to leave their homes by 2050.

These are just a few examples. I could go on.

As you can see, addressing the world's triple environmental crisis is a human rights imperative, as well as a humanitarian, peace-building and development necessity.

But beyond that -- it is also doable.

And here is how addressing this crisis and recovering better from COVID-19, the other severe challenge we will discuss today, go hand in hand.

Responding and recovering from the pandemic will require billions of dollars to be spent on rebuilding and supporting national economies. Policy choices can direct that spending into new, green directions that tackle inequalities and stimulate innovative environmental solutions that also uphold and promote human rights. Indeed, several States have issued significant new climate commitments in recent months. And, in June, the European Union adopted a new Climate Law that creates a legal obligation to attain climate neutrality by 2050, and requires a 55% reduction of EU-wide greenhouse gas emissions from their 1990 levels. In itself, this will not be easy: it means EU countries must reduce emissions in the next 8 years by more than was achieved in the previous three decades. And to limit global heating to 1.5° Celsius, even more ambitious action still will be required.

Investing in a just recovery can make a critical contribution to shaping a healthy future. But this is a shift that unfortunately is not being consistently and robustly undertaken. I deeply regret that according to a recent study by the IMF, UNEP and others, only 18.0% of the pandemic recovery spending announced by the world's 50 largest economies can be considered ‘green.’

Through the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and other instruments, States have united behind a transformative vision for people-centered sustainable development, yet many have consistently failed to fund and implement it.

We must set the bar higher – indeed, our common future depends on it. My Office is developing new guidelines for human rights-based approaches to recovery, conservation and climate finance, and is working with member States to support a just transition to a sustainable, human rights based economy.

States’ human rights obligations require them to cooperate toward the progressive realization of human rights globally, and this clearly should include adequate financing by those who can best afford it of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage. At the COP26 climate negotiations, my Office and many partners will be strongly advocating more ambitious, rights-based and inclusive climate action.

And human rights law protects the rights to participation, access to information and access to justice. It guarantees all people the rights to benefit from science and its applications, and to share equitably in the benefits of development, and it requires we protect the basic conditions necessary for life – including a safe and stable climate, clean air and water, healthy biodiversity and ecosystems; and a non-toxic environment. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is grounded in human rights, is a roadmap for solutions that can help to heal our planet and ensure that humanity can thrive.

Dear friends,

Environmental damage usually hurts most those who are least protected – the poorest and most marginalized people, and the poorest nations, which often have the least capacity to respond. According to a study by the World Meteorological Organisation, more than two thirds of deaths from weather- and water-related disasters since 1970 have been in least developed countries. A report issued by UNICEF last month found that the 33 countries at ‘extremely high-risk’ for climate and environmental hazards such as air pollution, heatwaves or drought collectively emit just 9 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions – but almost half the world's 2.2 billion children live there.

We cannot overlook the heightened risk exposure of women and girls to climate and environmental harms has also been economically, socially and culturally constructed over decades and generations. Coupled with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women and girls, UNDP assesses that, by the end of this year there will be 118 women aged 25 to 34 living in extreme poverty for every 100 men – and by 2030 that will increase to 121 women living in extreme poverty for every 100 men. This is intolerable by any human rights measures.

Here, once again we can see similarities between the climate and COVID-19 crisis.

The pandemic has also affected those who were least protected and more vulnerable, over due to systemic discrimination and exclusion.

The magnitude and scope of inequalities that have been created and exacerbated by COVID-19 are truly shocking – although hardly surprising.

Shortfalls in upholding and protecting human rights undermined the resilience of people and States, making them intensely vulnerable to this medical, economic and social shock.

The human rights scars of this pandemic run deep – and they are growing deeper.

Extreme poverty and hunger are rising. COVID-19 has led to the first rise in extreme poverty in two decades: an additional 119 to 124 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty in 2020, and the number of people living with food insecurity rose by 318 million, according to FAO – amounting to an unprecedented 2.38 billion people.

Vital gains are being reversed – including for women's equality and the rights of many ethnic and religious minority communities and indigenous peoples.

Cracks in the social fabric of our societies are growing wider. Trust is being eroded.

And the huge gaps between rich and poorer countries are becoming more desperate and more lethal.

Nowhere is this more visible now than with the case of vaccine injustice – and people’s rights to life and health, to development and to share in the benefits of scientific progress.

The pace at which we gained scientific knowledge has been extraordinary, and countless lives have been saved. By August 2021, almost 5 billion vaccine doses had been administered, reaching almost 40% of the world population with at least one. 

But the vaccine gap between rich and poor is a stark example of the severity of existing inequalities. More than 80% of the doses administered globally had gone to high- and upper-middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.

The lack of access to vaccines and medicines puts millions of lives in developing countries in immediate danger. It also poses a threat to people everywhere, as mutating forms of the virus may emerge among largely unvaccinated populations.

I cannot stress it enough: vaccines and medicines against COVID-19 must be considered as a global public good.

Just as pre-existing inequalities made States and communities vulnerable to contagion, and just as pre-existing failures to ensure social protections exposed people to the worst impact of the pandemic's socio-economic devastation, so inequality in access to vaccines is creating setbacks to development and to human rights around the world – with potentially massive and longlasting consequences.

The growing prospect of vastly divergent health and economic recoveries pose additional threats to people and their rights.

Dear friends,

We can and we must do better. States have committed to upholding and advancing human rights, including through ratification of the human rights treaties and adoption of the 2030 Agenda. The pandemic has exposed many failures to live up to those commitments – and it has demonstrated the terrible economic, social, human rights and conflict-related effects of those failures.

We have to learn the lessons of COVID-19. And they must lead us to powerful action.

Our only option is to recover better. This is our duty. For people and planet. For present and future generations.

For me, lesson one is very obvious: upholding human rights will make us safer and stronger. They are not only nice to have – they are the tools to build inclusive, stable and sustainable economies as well as societies. States’ economic recovery plans must bee built on the bedrock of human rights and in meaningful consultation with civil society. Moreover, responsible businesses conduct must be an integral part.

That includes steps to uphold universal health care, universal social protections and other fundamental rights to protect societies from harm, and make all communities more resilient.

It also means measures that advance everyone's right to participate fully in public affairs; steps that ensure the widest possible space for civic freedoms; and policies that dismantle and eradicate all forms of discrimination create more cohesive communities, which benefit from the full contributions of everyone.

Lesson two: we either stand together, or fall apart. To act effectively, States must in cooperation, to fairly distribute vaccines and help each other combat the impacts of COVID-19. 

Solidarity is not morally right – it is also about self-protection and self-interest.

Universal access to COVID-19 vaccines will curb viral mutations, helping to preserve everyone from the possibility that a new mutation will manage to overcome the vaccine's protective effect.   

Universal recovery from COVID will place the world closer to fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda – for the benefit of everyone, in countries rich and poor.

The UN is committed to leaving no one behind – helping all States to transform the economic, political and social paradigms that have fuelled this lack of resilience. My Office will continue working to maximize the force of partnerships with all actors to ensure that human rights and sustainability are at the heart of efforts to respond to and recover from the pandemic.

Dear friends,

The challenges are grave and the road ahead arduous.

But it is often said that the darkest hour comes before the dawn.

I believe we will make the right choices. I believe we can recover better – we simply must!
As I often say, I am prisoner of hope. And one of the reasons I am hopeful is young people.

Young people have been inspiring the world by standing up for universal rights.

The right to a healthy planet and an inclusive future. The right to live free from discrimination and deprivation. The right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.

It is encouraging to see young leaders paving the way towards a better future – for people and planet.

As the Secretary-General stressed in a recent report, called “Our Common Agenda” ‘in our biggest shared test since the Second World War, humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough’.

He added: “now is the time to re-embrace global solidarity and find new ways to work together for the common good.”

The United Nations and I will continue counting on you.

Thank you.