Activities

2022

Statement of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David R. Boyd, at the conclusion of country visit to Slovenia
6 October 2022
English | Slovenian

Statement of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David R. Boyd, at the conclusion of country visit to Portugal
27 September 2022
English | Portuguese

Side event on non-toxic environments to live, work, study and play 11 March 2022 15:30

2021

31 August 2021
Joint researchathon on “sacrifice zones and human rights”
English | Español

22 April 2021
"The importance of a safe climate for human rights"
Watch the video

23 February, Geneva, Switzerland
Event: The case for universal recognition of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment

2 March, Geneva Switzerland
 Event: "The Global Water Crisis: Identifying and Implementing Rights-based Solutions"

3-4 March, Geneva, Switzerland
UN Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue – The global water crisis and human rights
Read the Report Summary
Watch the Video Teaser and full video

21 January 2021 
Letter from the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment -
Adopting a rights-based approach to the global climate and biodiversity crises
PDF: English | Français | Español

2020

28 April 2020
Open Letter to UNESCO: The imperative of a uniform and concerted effort to protect World Heritage Sites

6 March, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] International Women’s Day - 8 March 2020
“The time to act is now” – UN experts urge men and boys to become women’s rights defenders

2 March, Geneva, Switzerland
UN Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue – Good practices on the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment (video)

2019

December, Madrid, Spain
25th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) in Madrid

24 October, New York, USA
UN General Assembly Interactive Dialogue – Safe Climate (video)

10 October, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] International Day of the Girl Child, 11 October 2019 Agents for change: Girls take up the fight for a better world

23 September, Oslo, Norway
[Press release] Norway must resolve climate change and human rights paradox, UN expert says

23 September, Oslo, Norway
Statement of United Nations Special Rapporteur David R. Boyd on the conclusion of his mission to Norway

17 September, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] United Nations Climate Action Summit New York, 23 September 2019

25 June, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Failing to protect biodiversity can be a human rights violation

3 June, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] World Environment Day

6 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC40 Side-event on Clean Air (flyer)

4 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC40 Interactive Dialogue: Click here for the statement and here for video

25 April, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN human rights experts welcome EU agreement on sustainable investment disclosure

1 April, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN experts call for solidarity with people affected by Africa cyclone

22 March, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN human rights experts applaud children fighting climate change

4 March, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Air pollution: The Silent killer that claims 7 million lives each year

30 January, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Brazil: UN experts call for probe into deadly dam collapse

2018

19 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Guatemala: Un experts concerned indigenous leader convicted in retaliation for opposition to Oxec hydro project

17 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Fiji should step up action to protect human rights from environmental risks, UN expert says

17 December, Suva, Fiji
Statement of United Nations Special Rapporteur David R. Boyd on the conclusion of his mission to Fiji

13 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Poland: UN experts condemn measures to stop human rights defenders join climate talks

7 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Honduras: Masterminds of Berta Cáceres killing still at large, say UN experts

6 December, Katowice, Poland
24th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, Joint statement of the United Nations Special Procedures Mandate Holders

5 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Fiji: UN expert to asses environmental impact on human rights

4 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN experts urge more action on inequalities that threaten peace and security, development, and human rights

25 October, Geneva, Switzerland
Statement on the case Friends of the Irish Environment CLG v. the Government of Ireland

25 October, Geneva, Switzerland
GA 73 Statement by David R. Boyd, Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment

25 October, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Environmental hazards kill 8 million a year: UN expert urges global recognition of the human right to a healthy environment

8 October, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Climate change: Act now or pay a high price, says UN expert

13 September, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN experts urge prompt ratification of landmark Latin America and Caribbean environment treaty

31 June, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Bangladesh: Tigers’ Sundarbans Forest habitat threatened by heedless industrialisation, says UN expert

1 June, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] World Environment Day – 5 June 2018

30 May, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN experts urge Kenya to protect environmental defenders

7 May, Geneva, Switzerland 
[Press release] UN experts urge Poland to ensure free and full participation at climate talks

9 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC37, Resolution 37/8 renewing the mandate and appointing David R. Boyd as Special Rapporteur

6 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC37 Side-event on “Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment” [flyer]

5 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC37 Interactive Dialogue: Click here for the statement and here for video [12]

5 March, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN expert calls for global recognition of the right to safe and healthy environment

2 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC37 Side-event on “Children’s Rights and the Environment” [flyer]

23 February, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Iran: Spying charges against wildlife activists “hard to fathom”, say UN experts

23 February, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Viet Nam: UN rights experts urge release of activists jailed for protesting toxic spill

15 January, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Indigenous rights must be respected during Kenya climate change project, say UN experts

2017

24-28 April, Uruguay [country visit]

9 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC34 Side-event on “The Interdependence of Human Rights and Biodiversity” [Programme]

9 March, Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Environment Network meeting – Biodiversity and Human Rights: Discussion on the Special Rapporteur’ new report on biodiversity and human rights [Invitation]

8 March, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN rights experts condemn Viet Nam for incommunicado detention of blogger ‘Mother Mushroom’

8 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC34 Interactive Dialogue: click here for statement and video

4 March, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC34 Side-event on “Environmental Human Rights Defenders: Responding to a Global Crisis” [Programme]

1 March, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] States must fulfil human rights obligations in protecting biodiversity, UN expert urges

24 February, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN rights expert urges Kenya to protect four environmental defenders whose lives are under threat

23 February, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Toxic air pollution: UN rights experts urge tighter rules to combat “invisible threat”

2016

8-12 December, Cancun, Mexico
Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD]

30 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] UN experts condemn string of Ecuador clampdowns on human rights organizations

2 December, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Development agenda at risk unless States honour political and financial commitments, UN experts warn

15 November, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] Native Americans facing excessive force in North Dakota pipeline protests – UN expert

23 September 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Committee on the Rights of the Child, Day of General Discussion on children's rights and the environment [Statement]

22 September 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Public consultation on biodiversity on human rights [Concept Note]

22 September 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
"How can human rights contribute to the protection of the environment?", organized by the Geneva Environment Network meeting [Invitation]

20-21 September 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Expert consultation on biodiversity and human rights [Concept Note]

1-5 September 2016, Honolulu, USA
International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] World Conservation Congress

- Local and Global Leaders’ Dialogue, organized by UNDP Equator Initiative
- Leave no one behind: Conservation, Rights and Sustainable Development, organized by IUCN
- “Knowledge Café: Towards a rights-based approach to protect the environment in international development
- Keynote address – “Judges and Nature”, organized by IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law [WCEL], the Hawaii Supreme Court, UNEP and partners
- WCC Workshop: Strengthening responsibility and accountability of the private sector and the state for ecosystem degradation and the disruptive impacts on human rights and economic and social justice, organized by IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy [CEESP]

29 August 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Press Release - "IUCN World Conservation Congress - 'Make human rights the priority in all conservation efforts' – UN experts urge governments"

27 June 2016, Montevideo, Uruguay
”Human Rights and Environment Advances and challenges for sustainable development”.  [Programme]

24 June 2016, London, UK 
“Climate change – the greatest threat to human rights in the 21st century” organized by the University College London and Unicef UK

5 June 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
The Guardian - ‘Protecting those who work to defend the environment is a human rights issue’

2 June 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] For World Environment Day – Sunday 5 June   “A deadly undertaking” – UN experts urge all Governments to protect environmental rights defenders

13 May 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release] “No time for complacency” – UN rights expert says as the Paris Agreement faces its first key test.

3 May 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Letter from the Special Rapporteur to Paris Convention’s Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice [SBSTA]: Human Rights and Safeguards in the New Climate Mechanism established in Article 6, paragraph 4 of the Paris Agreement

21 April 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
[Press release]  Climate change: UN expert welcomes historic Paris Agreement but calls on States to scale up efforts to meet the 1.5 °C target

12-15 April 2016, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Symposium and judicial workshop: “New Frontiers in Global Environmental Constitutionalism” at North-West organized by the Special Rapporteur together with partners from North-West University, Widener University in the United States, and the United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP]. [Programme]

4 March 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC31 side-event on "Implementation of human rights obligations relating to the environment" [Programme]

4 March 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
HRC31 side-event on “Procedural Rights and the Environment: the Principle 10 Negotiations in Latin America and the Caribbean” [Programme]

4 March 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva Pledge meeting organized by the Mary Robinson Foundation and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland “The Geneva Pledge for Human Rights in Climate Action: A Dialogue on Climate Justice after COP21 and the way forward.”

3 March 2016, Geneva Switzerland
HRC31 side-event on “Climate Change and the Right to Health” [Programme]

2 March 2016, Gland, Switzerland
Brown-bag lunch seminar at World Wildlife Fund [WWF]

29 February and 1 March 2016, Bonn, Germany
Meetings with the Secretariat of UNFCCC

2015

10 December 2015, Paris, France
Human rights informed climate action: Paris and beyond [Briefing paper]

7 December 2015, Paris, France
IBA conference - COP21: Climate Change Related Disputes: A Role for International Arbitration and ADR ICC [Program]

4 December 2015, Paris, France
Realising Human Rights and Climate Change on the inauguration of Climate Law and Governance Day [Program]

28 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland
Public Meeting on the Implementation of Human Rights Obligations relating to the Environment  [Concept Note]

26– 27 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland
Expert Consultation on the Implementation of Human Rights Obligations relating to the Environment  [Concept Note]

26 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland
Event organized by GEN “Climate change, cross-border displacement and human rights:, is there a protection gap and will COP21 help close it” [Program]

22 October 2015
Joint Statement and Press Release by UN Special Procedures on Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean [ECLAC] negotiation of a regional instrument on environmental democracy

26-27 September 2015, Mandalay, Myanmar
Workshop on the Implementation of Human Rights Obligations relating to the Environment and Climate Change, organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN] Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights

8 June 2015, Bonn, Germany
Side-event at the margins of the Bonn Climate Change Conference on “advancing human rights in the Paris Agreement,” co-sponsored by the Center for International Environmental Law [CIEL] and the World Council of Churches

5 June 2015 
Joint statement by UN Special Procedures on the occasion of World Environment Day

4 May 2015, United Nations Radio Interview
Titled “Incremental increases in global warming can impact human rights” [Listen]

30 April 2015
Report entitled “The Effects of Climate Change on the Full Enjoyment of Human Rights”, submitted to the Climate Vulnerable Forum in response to the invitation of its chair, the Philippines

26 – 27 March 2015, North Carolina, USA
Interdisciplinary conference on “the human face of environmental inequality” [Program]

6 March 2015, Geneva, Switzerland
Human Rights Council Panel discussion on climate change and human rights [Concept note, Summary]

2014

6 November 2014, Santiago, Chile
Fourth meeting of the focal points appointed by the Government of the signatory countries of the Declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
The Independent Expert delivered a statement "The Development of Environmental Human Rights"

17 July 2014, Geneva, Switzerland
Public consultation on the relationship between human rights obligations and environmental protection, with a focus on climate change [concept note]

15-16 July 2014, Chamonix, France
Expert consultation on the relationship between human rights obligations and environmental protection, with a focus on climate change, convened by the Independent Expert, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and OHCHR [concept note, programme]

22 May 2014, Bangkok, Thailand
Regional Consultation on Environmental Human Rights Defenders and Good Practices with a Focus on Asia, convened by the Independent Expert, UNEP and OHCHR [concept note]

20-21 May 2014, Bangkok, Thailand
Interaction between Environmental Sustainability and a Human Rights-Based Approach, organized by the Embassy of Sweden
The Independent Expert delivered a presentation on "Human rights and environmental protection"

22 April 2014
The Independent Expert published an article entitled “The emerging law of environmental human rights is clearer than ever before”.

11 March 2014, Geneva, Switzerland
Side Event on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations
The Independent Expert delivered a statement “Transnational Corporations and Environmental Harm”.

11 March 2014, Geneva, Switzerland
Human Rights Council 25th Session
The Independent Expert presented his report to the Council [for more details, click here].

22-23 January 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa
Expert Consultation on Constitutional Environmental Rights, convened by the Independent Expert, UNEP and OHCHR [programme] [consultation report]

2013

12 December 2013, New York, USA
Side Event at the 6th Session of the Open-ended Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals: A transformative post-2015 human rights vision requires innovative linkages with environmental issues
The Independent Expert delivered a statement “The Human Rights Basis for the Environmental Pillar”

30-31 October 2013, Lima, Peru
Third meeting of the focal points appointed by the Governments of the signatory countries of the Declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and development in Latin America and the Caribbean
The Independent Expert delivered a statement “Access Rights as Human Rights”

24 October 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark
Consultation on the Relation between Environmental Protection and Human Rights Obligations, convened by the Independent Expert, OHCHR in collaboration with the Danish Institute of Human Rights and the Asia-Europe Foundation [concept note and programme]

21 - 23 October 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark
Asia-Europe Seminar on Human Rights and the Environment
The Independent Expert delivered a statement “Human Rights and the Environment: Carrying the Conversation Forward”. [Click here to assess full report of the meeting]

28 July –1 August 2013, Costa Rica
The Independent Expert undertook a county mission to Costa Rica [for more details, click here].

26-27 July 2013, Panama
Regional Consultation on the Relation between Environmental Protection and Vulnerable Groups, convened by the Independent Expert, OHCHR and UNEP [programme, consultation report]

21-22 June 2013, Geneva, Switzerland
Consultation on the Relation between Environmental Protection and Substantive Human Rights as well as Extraterritorial Obligations, convened by the Independent Expert and OHCHR [concept note and programme]

7 March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland
Human Rights Council 22nd Session
The Independent Expert presented his report to the Council [for more details, click here].

22-23 February 2013, Nairobi, Kenya
Expert Consultation on Procedural Rights and Obligations, convened by the Independent Expert, OHCHR and UNEP [programme, consultation report]

18-20 February 2013, Nairobi, Kenya
Global Ministerial Environment Forum, Rio +20: From Outcome to Implementation
The Independent Expert made an intervention “The Role of Human Rights in the Follow-up to Rio+20”