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
In 2022, the new Training Hub of the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) conducted seven training courses – two regular courses and five customized courses – in Geneva, online and in the field.
Axel Fassio/CIFOR-ICRAF
In parallel to the 9th session of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Governing Body, the Geneva Academy is contributing to the upcoming negotiations on farmers’ rights with a timely briefing paper.
Adobe
This online workshop – held in English and German – aims to raise awareness of the upcoming reform of the EU seed marketing legislation and to explore pathways to align it with the right to seeds recognized by UNDROP.
Adobe
This training course will focus on the most efficient human rights mechanisms – at national and international levels – to promote and protect human rights in the private sector and address corporations’ human rights abuses.
CCPR centre
This training course will delve into the means and mechanisms through which national actors can best coordinate their human rights monitoring and implementation efforts, enabling them to strategically navigate the UN human rights system and use the various mechanisms available in their day-to-day work.
Paolo Margari
This research aims at mainstreaming the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the protection it affords in the work of the UN Human Rights Council, its Special Procedures and Universal Periodic Review, as well as in the work of the UN General Assembly and UN treaty bodies.
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