RES/7/23 Human rights and climate change

Human Rights Council

Resolution 7/23. Human rights and climate change

The Human Rights Council,

Concerned that climate change poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to

people and communities around the world and has implications for the full enjoyment

of human rights,

Recognizing that climate change is a global problem and that it requires a

global solution,

Reaffirming the Charter of the United Nations, 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,

Noting the findings of the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change, including that the warming of the climate system is

unequivocal and that most of the observed increase in global average temperatures

since the mid-twentieth century is very likely human-induced,

Recognizing that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change remains the comprehensive global framework to deal with climate change

issues, reaffirming the principles of the Framework Convention as contained in article

3 thereof, and welcoming the decisions of the United Nations Climate Change

Conference held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, and in particular the adoption

of the Bali Action Plan,

Recalling that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action reaffirmed

the right to development, as established in the Declaration on the Right to

Development, as a universal and inalienable right and as an integral part of

fundamental human rights,

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 development and environmental needs of present and future generations,

Recognizing also that the world’s poor are especially vulnerable to the effects

of climate change, in particular those concentrated in high-risk areas, and also tend to

have more limited adaptation capacities,

Recognizing further that low-lying and other small island countries, countries

with low-lying coastal, arid and semi-arid areas or areas liable to floods, drought and

desertification, and developing countries with fragile mountainous ecosystems are

particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change,

Recalling the relevant provisions of declarations, resolutions and programmes

of action adopted by major United Nations conferences, summits and special sessions

and their follow-up meetings, in particular Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on

Environment and Development, and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable

Development and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,

Recalling also Commission on Human Rights resolution 2005/60 of 20 April

2005 on human rights and the environment as part of sustainable development,

Recalling further Council resolution 6/27 of 14 December 2007 on adequate

housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living and in particular

paragraph 3 thereof, and Council decision 2/104 of 27 November 2006 on human

rights and access to water,

Taking note of the contribution provided by special procedures of the Council

in examining and advancing the understanding of the link between the enjoyment of

human rights and the protection of environment,

Taking note also of the conclusions and recommendations contained in the

report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the

highest attainable standard of physical and mental health to the General Assembly

(A/62/214), which include a call for the Council to study the impact of climate change

on human rights,

1. Decides to request the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights, in consultation with and taking into account the

views of States, other relevant international organizations and intergovernmental

bodies including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the secretariat

of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and other

stakeholders, to conduct, within existing resources, a detailed analytical study on the

relationship between climate change and human rights, to be submitted to the Council

prior to its tenth session;

2. Encourages States to contribute to the study conducted by the Office of

the High Commissioner;

3. Decides to consider the issue at its tenth session under agenda item 3,

and thereafter to make available the study, together with a summary of the debate held

during its tenth session, to the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change for its consideration.

41st meeting 28 March 2008

Adopted without a vote.