DHC Statement to COP23 Side Event on Human Rights and Climate Change

Luxembourg Pavilion, Bonn Zone, 15 November 2017 from 11.00 – 12.30

Question 1:What are a state’s obligation, under international law, to protect the human rights of their citizens, those women, men and children living on its territory, and even beyond its own borders, against the negative effects of climate change?

It is always about people. And if about people, it is always about rights.  And about duties.  No matter how grave, how unfamiliar, how unpredictable, how rapid or slow the crisis.

The foundation of modern multilateralism – the United Nations - was set at just such a time – it’s Charter drafted under shadow of the toxic moral pollution of the smoky clouds of Treblinka and Auschwitz; when far from complete was the body count of those lost to war too on the deserts of the Middle East, in the jungles of Asia and the Pacific, on the fields of Europe; as humanity stared into that abyss which is dug deepest by human cruelty: at those worst of times, the powerful of the day conceded that for the sake of “never again”, people must be at the center. 

Governments set out, by Charter. the formation of a united effort – a united nations - whose first and primary purpose would be to protect people, specifically from the worst that unaccountable power can do when unchecked and unchallenged. 

Awash with the consequences of crisis on a mass scale, their first instincts were not to shore up their sovereign borders, to lock up their banks more securely, or to tighten further their control on the press or against dissent nor to pretend that their sovereign duties outweigh  their global responsibilities to the global commons.

Standing amidst the rubble of wide spread destruction, with a generation of young men and women lost to conflict, having paid a horror price in unconscionable currency born of political complacency and its casual accommodation of hateful self interest; out of “deep sorrow”, the founders of the UN pledged first not as countries, nor as nations but as “we the peoples” – an a priori borderless, beyond nation, global peoples. In this the UN Charter established further that their first order of business was to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”. 

Excellencies

Throughout human history, at times of rapid change and when facing slow onset alteration; in great crises and small; any time that political and corporate power has left the rights of people out, locked people’s dignity in, rendered our common humanity invisible - left people behind, then and without exception, the legacy of such times is a legacy of shame:  The slavery-based economy; the cruel, dehumanising coloniser; the women-excluding parliaments; the unchecked genocide; the racist migration policies; the sexually abusing mogul – whenever and however the action of the powerful few tramples on the dignity of the many, the consequences for most of us time and time again are just toxic.

People’s dignity – upheld by fairness, buttressed by the rule of law, protected by non-discrimination, assured when all voices are heard – is both the means and the end of the state that is true to its sovereign duty to its people. 

Friends, there is so much that is unique, specific and exceptional about climate instability, global warming and rampant unchecked consumption.  But there is nothing unique whatsoever about the place that people hold in this crisis.  Nothing in climate change renders irrelevant people and their fundamental rights.

As is the case in response to all crises, and in all that it does and with respect to any future that we may plan or hope for, States have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all persons, without negative distinction as to their gender, age, ethnicity or any other identity.

An obligation that Member States themselves have articulated, reviewed and reaffirmed over and over again since the Charter and the UDHR were first drafted more than 70 years ago.

There is no abstraction of the planet or of its bio spheres or eco systems that can lead to solutions in which rights holders and duty bearers can be rendered legitimately absent.

Conservation and wilderness protection, for example, requires that Indigenous persons’ rights be respected and the associated duties of the State to be fulfilled.  Carbon footprint transformation requires behavioural change by people - people as partners - informed, active, engaged.  Climate change adaptation’s first responders are people themselves – who if invested in, resourced and freed from the shackles of intimidation and discrimination – can be the among best innovators for early and creative adaptation.  And without climate justice - safeguarding the rights of women, children and young people – of those most exposed, of those with the fewest resources - and unless we seek a more just, equitable and fair sharing of the burdens and benefits of climate change - then all we will have done is reproduce yet again, once more, another callous regime that sometime in the future - our children’s children - will recall with shame. 

Question 2: Former UNSG Kofi Annan famously declared in 2005 that there is no security without development, no development without security, and neither without the respect of human rights. The fight against climate change being an integral part of the Agenda 2030 on sustainable development, what are the risks implied by uncontrolled climate change on our safety and security and what are the consequences?

Thank you for your question.

Were Kofi Anan speaking today – he would undoubtedly clarify that “There is no security without development, there is no development if the planet cannot flourish and replenish and none of this is sustainable and inclusive without respect of human rights”

Humans without humanising habitat are no longer humanised.  Human habitat is not merely a house. It is a domicile state of broader dimension and ecologically-sound – a state in which we do not cower in fear, hunger for food, thirst unquenched for water, want for dignity in sanitation, languish unrelieved in ill health or long unrequited for justice! 

Without air that we can safely breathe, absent access to water uncontaminated, without preventable ill health prevented and if corruptive consumption and discrimination go unchecked, then people, prosperity and planet too, are undermined and there tumbles after them the fall too of peace. 

Our lungs do not have a separate life from our heart which does not beat without aid from our stomachs on which we cannot march forward in dignity without our will, wisdom, voice and participation engaged.  Policy and technical expertise may fragment, segment and cement us into bits and pieces but re-member that dis-membering is not true to how we live our lives nor how our lives affect those and that around us.   Our rights are as indivisible as they are universal.

Excellencies,

In an age of austerity, at a time of resource scarcity, when innovation is so urgently needed for as yet unknown solutions to unfathomable challenges, how can it be that we would tolerate for even one moment deprivation of the best of talent, the brightest of minds on the basis of where one is born, the color of our skin, the religion we worship, our gender or disability?

There is another way: let’s make of people the lead partners in climate change adaptation and key partners for mitigation. Let’s, for peace’s sake, see and take heart from the intersections between people, prosperity and planet for they are hope’s entry points.  And let’s dismantle the impediments to safe passage through those synergistic portals – dismantle discrimination, step up transparency, make accountability work for the people and bring people most affected into the tables of our decision-making.

Only by linking climate change, disaster risk reduction development, peace and security and founding these on human rights will we achieve holistic effective policies that serve the rights-holders we are duty-bound to protect.

Question 3: Is the UN system in general and the Office of the HCHR adequately equipped to accompany states and governments in the complex task of dealing with climate change, development and human rights in an effective way? What tools seem to be the most promising? What is missing in our toolbox?

Thank you.

The UN system exists to support Member States for a purpose that has generic and universal qualities – to enable governments to meet their obligations, to reach their objectives where these in turn serve the interests of their people – the human rights of their people.

The UN Human Rights Office contributes to this by informing and advising MS on human rights trends and patterns globally, regionally and in key country settings; by working for the mainstreaming of human rights into both development AND peace and security operations AND as it enables the operations of the Human Rights Council, treaty bodies and independent experts. 

This mandate provided it by the General Assembly through the High Commissioner empowers the UN Human Rights Office to act independently to promote the realization of all human rights for all. But of course, we depend on resources to carry out this work.  And, our resources do not match the expectations placed upon us. And our efforts are sometimes hindered by the absence of political will not only the absence of sufficient financial and human resources.

Nonetheless, we have a mandate - the mandate of the Human Rights Council resolution on climate change which empowers the Human Rights Office to address critical issues such as climate-related migration, climate change and health, climate change and food security, and climate change and the rights of the child.

Yet when efforts are made to operationalize and apply human rights standards in the context of such as climate action at the UNFCCC, this human rights mandate is not as strongly or as universally recognized as it should be.  Further, human rights are rarely raised in the context of the negotiations and when they are their relevance and application is often questioned.

Certainly, the UN System can also increase its own effectiveness. In this regard, the Common Core Principles for a UN System-Wide Approach to Climate Change reflect efforts to ensure collaborative, coherent support for effective climate action.

However, for more effective climate action that truly benefits peoples and planet, the human rights mandate and adherence to the same by Parties must be strengthened including critically by clearly integrating human rights in the guidelines for implementation of the Paris Agreement. And only States can do that.