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Climate change is impacting an enormous portion of the global population, with record-breaking high temperatures observed from the Arctic to Australia. Human health is threatened by air pollution resulting from wildfires, vehicles, and industries. The death of bees and other pollinators at unparalleled rates may force shifts in crop production and food supply.
What’s the common thread? These are the emerging issues in human rights.
On July 28, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly voted with a significant majority to proclaim the right to live in “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” as a universal human right. It also pushed countries, corporations, and global organizations to intensify their efforts to make this a reality.
The resolution regarding the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment was accepted unanimously apart from eight countries that abstained: Belarus, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Syria.
While the declaration is not legally enforceable – countries can support a human rights declaration without actually advocating for those rights in practice. Moreover, the language is ambiguous, resulting in different interpretations of what exactly a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment constitutes.
Nevertheless, it’s more than just a moral statement. Resolutions of this nature have traditionally paved the way for robust treaties and national laws.
As a geographer focusing on environmental justice, I explore the relationships between development-driven environmental change, natural resource usage, and human rights. Here are some examples of how comparable resolutions have led to more substantial actions.
In the wake of World War II in 1948, the newly established United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights responding to the horrors of the Holocaust. Although the declaration wasn’t legally binding, it set a fundamental rights standard intended to ensure basic human dignity.
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This initial declaration of rights primarily included the right to life, religious freedom, freedom from slavery, and a level of living adequate for health and well-being.
Since then, the scope of human rights has broadened, comprising several treaties that are legally enforceable on the nations that ratified them. Examples include UN conventions against torture (1984) and racial discrimination (1965), along with rights of children (1989) and disabled persons (2006). The International Bill of Human Rights now also comprises binding commitments on economic, cultural, civil, and political rights.
Considering the massive environmental crises faced globally, the landscape has significantly changed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was composed.
Some experts contend that the “triple planetary crisis” of human-induced climate change, extensive biodiversity loss and rampant pollution are now threatening the vital planetary boundaries needed for safe habitation on Earth.
These threats could compromise the right to life, dignity, and health, similarly to air pollution, contaminated water, and pollution from plastics and chemicals. That’s why supporters lobbied for the UN to declare a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
The UN has been discussing environmental issues as an international concern for over half a century, leading to several international treaties addressing specific environmental issues, including binding agreements on protecting biodiversity and closing the ozone gap. The 2015 Paris climate agreement to restrict global warming is a direct, legally binding result of the long battles following the initial declarations.
Optional human rights declarations can significantly impact shaping state policy and providing people with new political tools to demand improved conditions.
The human right to water provides one of the strongest instances of how UN resolutions have been utilized to influence state policy. The 2010 resolution recognizes that access to sufficient amounts of clean water and sanitation is crucial for realizing all other rights. Diarrheal disease, largely caused by unsafe drinking water, results in the death of half a million children under five annually.
Human rights supporters used the resolution to pressure the Mexican government to amend its constitution and adopt a human right to water in 2012. While the concept continues to face hurdles, the right to water has also been credited with transforming water access in marginalized communities in Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Egypt, and other countries.
Another example is the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It acknowledges the unique histories of marginalization, violence, and exploitation experienced by many Indigenous peoples worldwide, and current human rights abuses.
While the resolution provides rights for indigenous peoples, it falls short of recognizing their sovereignty, critiqued by many as shrinking the scope of self-determination. Nevertheless, within these constraints, several countries have integrated some of its recommendations. For instance, Bolivia included it in its constitution in 2009.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples examines the right to free, prior, and informed consent about development projects that would impact Indigenous people. This has served as a potent tool for indigenous peoples to demand due legal process.
In Canada, Paraguay, and Kenya, indigenous peoples have utilized the resolution to secure significant legal victories in human rights courts, leading to land restitution and other legal advantages.
UN human rights declarations are aspirational norms aiming for a fairer and more equitable world. Even though declarations like this are not legally binding, they serve as essential tools people can leverage to push governments and private firms to safeguard or enhance human well-being.
Change may be slow, but I am optimistic that this recent declaration of human rights will bolster climate and environmental justice globally.