14 September 2022, 19:00-20:30
Event
Melissa Bradley, Unsplash
Global challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, forced migration, and armed conflicts, as well as difficult access to water, land and other natural resources, raw materials and energy, have increased and have a major impact on stability and security in the world. Violations of human rights, especially in the context of environmental protection, are increasingly driving conflict.
At its 48th session in October 2021, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC) recognized for the first time the human right of all to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, calling on states to work together, and with other partners, to implement this newly recognized right. It also invited the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to consider the matter. At its 76th session in July 2022, the UNGA responded to this call and recognized the human right of all to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
In parallel, UN treaty bodies (TBs) and regional courts are increasingly acknowledging the environmental dimensions of human rights. These TBs and courts are developing jurisprudence on environmental harm inducing human rights violations and on the negative human rights implications of climate change, as well as harmful projects aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change.
At this side event to the HRC 51st session, the Geneva Academy, the Permanent Missions of Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Switzerland and Slovenia to the UN in Geneva, Franciscans International, CIEL and EarthJustice invite States, NGOs, international organizations and human rights experts to discuss their role in promoting and protecting the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
On this occasion, we will present our background paper Human Rights, the Environment, and the Right to a Healthy Environment, an output of our research project on the same issue and the basis of a future publication by the end of 2022.
Watch this side event to the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council which discussed the role of states, NGOs, international organizations and human rights experts in promoting and protecting the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Geneva Academy
Our Geneva Human Rights Platform offered, in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a three-day executive training course for Geneva-based diplomats on the functioning of UN human rights mechanisms and negotiation practices at the multilateral level.
Adobe
Our latest Research Brief examines the myriad consequences that accompany damage rendered upon food systems during armed conflict.
CIEL
Organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform in co-operation with Center for International Environmental Law this event will explore the significance of this ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
Adobe
Participants in this training course, made of two modules, will examine the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights and the environment, familiarizing themselves with the respective implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
Adobe Stock
This project addresses the human rights implications stemming from the development of neurotechnology for commercial, non-therapeutic ends, and is based on a partnership between the Geneva Academy, the Geneva University Neurocentre and the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.
Victoria Pickering
This project aims at providing support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Voulé by addressing emerging issues affecting civic space and eveloping tools and materials allowing various stakeholders to promote and defend civic space.
Geneva Academy