RES/18/22 Human rights and climate change

GE.FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1, dec. 1/CP.16. 1- 16748

Human Rights Council Eighteenth session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council*

18/22 Human rights and climate change

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, and reaffirming the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Vienna Declaration

and Programme of Action,

Bearing in mind that 2011 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Declaration on

the Right to Development,

Recalling its resolutions 7/23 of 28 March 2008 and 10/4 of 25 March 2009, on

human rights and climate change, and 16/11 of 24 March 2011, on human rights and the

environment,

Reaffirming the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the

objectives and principles thereof, and emphasizing that parties should, in all climate

change-related actions, fully respect human rights as enunciated in the outcome of the

sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention,1

Reaffirming also the commitment to enable the full, effective and sustained

implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change through

long-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012, in order to achieve the ultimate

objective of the Convention,

Reaffirming further the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda

21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, the Johannesburg

* The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of

the Council on its eighteenth session (A/HRC/18/2), chap. I.

Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation of the World

Summit on Sustainable Development, and recognizing that human beings are at the centre

of concerns for sustainable development and that the right to development must be fulfilled

so as to equitably meet the developmental and environmental needs of present and future

generations,

Welcoming the decision to organize, in June 2012, the United Nations Conference

on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, and taking note of the invitation of the

General Assembly, in its resolution 64/236 of 20 December 2009, to organizations and

bodies of the United Nations to contribute to the preparatory process for the Conference,

Recognizing the challenges of climate change to development and to the progress

made towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular with

regard to the goals on the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, on environmental

sustainability and on health,

Acknowledging that, as stated in the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change, the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible

cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate

international response, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities

and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions,

Acknowledging also that, as stated in the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change, responses to climate change should be coordinated with social and

economic development in an integrated manner with a view to avoiding adverse impacts on

the latter, taking into full account the legitimate priority needs of developing countries for

the achievement of sustained economic growth and the eradication of poverty,

Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and

interrelated,

Taking note of the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights on the relationship between climate change and human rights,A/HRC/10/61. the panel

discussion on the relationship between climate change and human rights, held on 15 June

2009, at the eleventh session of the Human Rights Council, and the 2010 Social Forum,

which focused on the relationship between climate change and human rights,

Emphasizing that climate change-related impacts have a range of implications, both

direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights, including, inter alia, the

right to life, the right to adequate food, the right to the highest attainable standard of health,

the right to adequate housing, the right to self-determination and the right to safe drinking

water and sanitation, and recalling that in no case may a people be deprived of its own

means of subsistence,

Expressing concern that, while these implications affect individuals and

communities around the world, the effects of climate change will be felt most acutely by

those segments of the population that are already in vulnerable situations owing to factors

such as geography, poverty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status and disability,

Recognizing that climate change is a global problem requiring a global solution, and

that effective international cooperation to enable the full, effective and sustained

implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in

accordance with the provisions and principles of the Convention is important in order to

support national efforts for the realization of human rights implicated by climate change-

related impacts,

Affirming that human rights obligations, standards and principles have the potential

to inform and strengthen international and national policymaking in the area of climate

change, promoting policy coherence, legitimacy and sustainable outcomes,

1. Reiterates its concern that climate change poses an immediate and far-

reaching threat to people and communities around the world and has adverse implications

for the full enjoyment of human rights;

2. Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human

Rights:

(a) To convene, prior to the nineteenth session of the Human Rights Council, a

seminar on addressing the adverse impacts of climate change on the full enjoyment of

human rights, with a view to following up on the call for respecting human rights in all

climate change-related actions and policies, and forging stronger interface and cooperation

between the human rights and climate change communities;

(b) To invite States and other relevant stakeholders, including academic experts,

civil society organizations and representatives of those segments of the population most

vulnerable to climate change, to participate actively in the seminar;

(c) To invite the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change, the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations

Development Programme to help organize the seminar, informed by the best available

science, including the assessment reports and special reports of the Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change;

3. Decides that the seminar will build on the previous work of the Human

Rights Council and its mechanisms, such as the Social Forum and relevant special

procedures, while taking into account the outcome of the sixteenth session of the

Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change, held in Cancun, in 2010, and any pertinent issues arising from the seventeenth

session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, to be held in Durban, in 2011;

4. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner:

(a) To submit to the Human Rights Council, at its twentieth session, a summary

report on the above-mentioned seminar, including any recommendations stemming

therefrom, for consideration of further follow-up action;

(b) To make available to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change, at its eighteenth session, the summary report

of the seminar;

5. Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide all the

human and technical assistance necessary for the effective and timely realization of the

above-mentioned seminar and summary report;

6. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

37th meeting

30 September 2011

[Adopted without a vote.]