SEMINAR TO REVIEW ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS LINKS HELD A DECADE AFTER EARTH SUMMIT

HR/02/3
15 January 2002





Government representatives and independent experts will meet in Geneva on Wednesday, 16 January for a one-day seminar that will explore the links between environmental conditions and human rights. The event is jointly organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Environment Programme.

The human rights and environment communities are working together to review how action to promote sustainable development affects the protection of human rights. The seminar=s results will be reported to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights at its annual session in March and will also be included in the preparatory process for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The seminar follows two days of discussions in Geneva by human rights and environmental experts.

AThe links between human rights and the environment have been recognized for decades", High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said. AIt is now time to turn that recognition into awareness of the impact of environmental degradation on the enjoyment of the most basic rights, including the right to life itself".

This view is shared by UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer. AMany of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have significant environmental dimensions", he said.

AEnvironmental conditions clearly help to determine the extent to which people can enjoy their basic human rights. It is time to recognize that those who pollute or destroy the natural environment are not just committing a crime against nature, but are violating human rights as well," said Mr. Töpfer.

According to the expert papers drafted for the seminar, the relationship between the environment and human rights has been recognized by a number of international environmental agreements. Global human rights treaties also contain references to the environment. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, for example, refers to aspects of environmental protection in respect to the child's right to health.

The 1972 Stockholm Declaration, which also created UNEP, marked the international community=s first official recognition of the fundamental link between human rights and environmental protection. It states that, AMan has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and he bears solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment, for present and future generations."


Note to journalists: The meeting, which is open to the press, will be held in Room XXI of the Palais des Nations. For more information, please contact José Luis Diaz (HCHR) at +41-22-9179242 or Michael Williams (UNEP) at +41-22-917-8242/244/196 or +41-79-409-1528 (cell).


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