THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, BY ITS RESOLUTION, RECOGNIZED FOR THE FIRST TIME THE HUMAN RIGHT TO A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT

On October 8, 2021, the UN European Office in Geneva adopted resolutions on the human right to a healthy and clean environment and the appointment for three years of a Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.

The resolutions were approved at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council. In one of them, the Council recognized for the first time that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is an inalienable human right, and the other established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur.

«The decisive actions of the Human Rights Council regarding the recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment are aimed at protecting people and the planet – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat. This also applies to the protection of natural systems that underpin the provision of life and livelihood for all people, wherever they live», said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

She recalled that she had long called for such a step, and expressed satisfaction that today's Council decisions «unequivocally recognize environmental degradation and climate change as interrelated human rights crises».

«Bold steps are needed to ensure that this resolution on the right to a healthy environment serves as a springboard for the promotion of innovative economic, social and environmental policies that will be aimed at protecting people and nature», the High Commissioner added.

At the beginning of the 48th session of the Human Rights Council, she named three threats on a planetary scale: climate change, environmental pollution, and the destruction of nature. She believes that these are the most serious modern problems in the field of human rights.

A source: https://news.un.org/ru/story/2021/10/1411502