H.E. Ms. Nazhat Shameem Khan, President of the Human Rights Council

3 August 2021

Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,

Bula Vinaka and Good Day. 

By way of introduction, my name is Nazhat Shameem Khan. I am the Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji to the United Nations in Geneva, and this year I have the honour of serving as the President of the Human Rights Council. 

It is my great pleasure to speak to open the Pacific Climate Justice Summit 2021, themed “The Rising Tide: A United Pacific for Climate Justice”.¹

At the outset, I would like to thank the organisers, speakers, moderators and, of course, all attendees for coming together and exchanging views, with an aim toward “solidifying a strong human rights and climate justice policy position in lead up to COP26”.² As I am sure we all agree, it is critical that all stakeholders place the promotion and protection of human rights at the centre of their discussions as they meet in Glasgow for COP26 this November with the aim to “accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change”.³

If I may, I would like to begin my remarks on a personal note – as a Fijian. And as a Fijian I know how climate change is negatively impacting the enjoyment of human rights of all persons in the Pacific.

Because of increasingly intense weather systems and rising seawaters, I have seen damage to infrastructure that threatens the rights to housing, to water and to sanitation; I have seen the displacement of families and communities that threatens cultural rights and the right to education; and I have seen the slow and sudden onset natural disasters that threaten the right to life. And I cannot emphasise enough that these threats are particularly acute for vulnerable populations.

Indeed it is difficult to envisage any discussion on human rights without asking how every right is affected by climate change, or any discussion on climate change without asking how such environmental changes affect the rights and the lives of our people.

Tragically, in 2020, this fact was again underlined as Fiji suffered from two serious Tropical Cyclones. And we have seen from recent events in Europe, that we are all vulnerable, and that there is an inevitable intersection between rights and the climate.

But there is hope for  increased action on human rights and climate change. Firstly, climate change’s threat to the full enjoyment of all human rights has been recognised at the highest levels of the United Nations.

Indeed, on 23 February of this year, the Secretary-General of the United Nations delivered a statement on addressing climate-related security risks to international peace and security through mitigation and resilience building, in which he noted that “respect for human rights, particularly women’s rights, the rule of law, inclusion and diversity, are fundamental to solving the climate crisis and creating more peaceful and stable societies”.⁴

And I am pleased to say, Excellencies, Dear Colleagues, that the Secretary-General’s statement is complemented by the Human Rights Council’s significant and continuing work to address the adverse impacts  climate change is having on human rights, including its impacts on vulnerable populations.

For example, at its recently concluded 47th session, the Council adopted a resolution entitled “Human Rights and Climate Change”, through which it expressed “concern that climate change has contributed and continues to contribute to the increased frequency and intensity of both sudden-onset natural disasters and slow-onset events, and that these adversely affect the full enjoyment of all human rights”.⁵ In addition, and very importantly, the resolution requests that the Secretary-General submit a report to the Human Rights Council on “the adverse impact of climate change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights of people in vulnerable situations”.⁶ 

In fact, every year since 2014, the Council has adopted a resolution on human rights and climate change. Each year, this resolution focuses on a specific human rights theme, which has included the connections between human rights, climate change, migrants and persons displaced across international borders; the adverse impacts of climate change on the rights of the child; and the adverse impacts of climate change on persons with disabilities.

Through each of these resolutions, the Human Rights Council has mandated important activities and reports that analyse the relationship between climate change and human rights. These activities and reports have shed light on how to best ensure the human rights of vulnerable populations in the context of climate action.

For example, pursuant to the resolution adopted by the Council in July 2019, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights distributed in April 2020 an “Analytical Study on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Context of Climate Change” which highlighted the SAMOA Pathway as a “key legal and policy” instrument “that should inform disability-inclusive climate action”.⁷

I would also like to take a moment to mention the work of the Council’s Special Procedures Mandate Holders on the link between human rights and climate change. Each of these Mandate Holders is tasked with monitoring global developments, analysing trends and making recommendations on a specific human rights issue, from the right to freedom of opinion and expression to business and human rights to the rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

And many of these Special Procedures Mandate Holders have very skilfully highlighted how climate change negatively impacts specific human rights issues.

For example, the Special Rapporteur on the Extreme Poverty and Human Rights published a report in 2019 on the grave impact of climate change on the human rights of those living in extreme poverty. In that report, the Special Rapporteur found that “Climate change threatens the future of human rights and risks undoing the last 50 years of progress in development, global health and poverty reduction”⁸ and rightly concludes that “climate change is, among other things, an unconscionable assault on the poor”⁹ . Crucially, the report also identified steps that can and should be taken to address the adverse impact of climate change on extreme poverty at the national and international levels.

To give just one further example, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displace Persons published a report last July on the human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the slow-onset adverse effects of climate change. In the report, the Special Rapporteur noted that “most population movements relating to the slow-onset adverse effects of climate change are expected to remain within national borders” ¹⁰, which makes human rights-based responses to internal displacement all the more pressing. And, in this connection, the report provided key recommendations to a variety of stakeholders, from States to the international community to academia, to help promote and protect the human rights of internally displaced persons in the context of the slow-onset adverse effects of climate change.

Excellencies, Dear Colleagues,

The Human Rights Council and its mechanisms have produced extensive work on relationship between human rights and climate change, and I would like to urge all of you to consult that work as we strive to ensure that the promotion and protection of human rights are front and centre at the discussions during COP26.

I would also like to commend you all for engaging in this Pacific Climate Justice Summit – it is your engagement in this Summit and going into the future that will help us prevent and mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on all persons in the Pacific and, indeed, around the world.

I wish you all fruitful discussions.

Vinaka Vakalevu and I thank you.