Human rights are key to climate action - Türk

Greetings from Geneva. 

The effects of climate change are becoming more ferocious and more widely felt all over the world, every day. 

We are quickly running out of time to change course – but solutions grounded in human rights offer us the surest path to a more sustainable and more equitable future. 

So, in the leadup to COP29, today’s event focusing on the intersection between climate change and human rights is crucial. 

This forum also highlights the vital part ombudspersons and national human rights institutions play – in monitoring and raising awareness of the human rights impacts of climate change. In advising governments how to respect, protect and fulfil human rights when taking climate action. And in identifying the solutions to this existential challenge. 

It also is very positive that today’s discussion brings together national human rights institute representatives and government officials – because your collaboration is crucial. 

Colleagues,

I want to take this opportunity to urge governments to include human rights experts, from national institutions and elsewhere, within their official delegations to COP29. This will ensure the rights and needs of people affected by climate change are prioritized at COP29 and in the decisions that are taken.

It will also help ensure that climate negotiations are safe, inclusive and transparent. We must hear from everybody about what the challenges are when it comes to combating climate change and how we can address them. 

We also need to be more ambitious when it comes to protecting people and planet. I urge States to commit to a phase-out of fossil fuels and to renew their nationally determined contributions in a manner consistent with their human rights obligations and the 1.5 degrees Celsius target in the Paris Agreement.

And we need to mobilize resources to support all forms of climate action – mitigation, adaptation and measures to address loss and damage. The new collective quantified goal on finance, which will be negotiated at COP29, must be guided by human rights, including gender equality, ensuring that the people and governments most affected by the climate crisis have the resources they need to survive and thrive. 

Dialogue and collaboration – exemplified by your discussions here today – can lead to a brighter tomorrow. But only if that dialogue is followed by action. 

So I wish you an excellent forum and I look forward to working with you to ensure that human rights are front and centre in all actions to address climate change and find solutions. 

Thank you.