On 28 July 2022, by 161 votes to 0, with 8 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution (UNGA 76/300) recognising the right to a clean, healthy, sustainable environment as a human right.
The successful vote - proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland - was the culmination of years of campaigning and organising by NGOs, environmental justice campaigners and advocates – congratulations to all of them for their persistence and hard work. The Center for International Environmental Law ‘CIEL’ summed up the sense of achievement as follows –
“Today’s landmark vote affirms that everyone, no matter where, has the right to live in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The decision comes at a time of planetary crises — the climate emergency, the collapse of ecosystems, and toxic threats are pushing against planetary boundaries, with widespread impacts on the full scope of human rights. This recognition provides one more tool for communities as they defend their rights and the environment, and opens new opportunities to strengthen accountability in the years ahead. It should serve as a catalyst to mobilize all UN agencies to prioritize the protection of the clean, healthy, and sustainable environment across all their activities.
“We celebrate the highest UN body in recognizing that the air we breathe, the water we drink, our health, well-being, and survival inherently depend on a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This historic victory for humanity is more than fifty years in the making. We thank civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations for their advocacy and perseverance and countries including Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland for their leadership in making this victory possible. “Institutions, governments, and businesses must now mobilize resources and take concrete steps to make this right a reality, beginning with protecting environmental defenders and climate-vulnerable communities. Today, we celebrate this long-sought victory for people and the planet. Tomorrow, we will advocate for the protection and fulfillment of this critical human right, and for its recognition at the national level in every country of the world and through regional human rights frameworks.”
A number of countries, including the UK, entered reservations about the precise legal status of such a declaration, but putting that on one side, we would suggest that for activists seeking to address climate change and biodiversity loss, such as the MOCK COP and the Climate Declaration put forward by young engineers, this is a really important development, and no opportunity should be lost in reminding governments that they have signed up to it, and now need laws and policies to match.
For example, the UK government is currently bringing forward legislation to weaken and qualify the UK’s adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights, in the form of a “Bill of Rights” Bill. How can that possibly be consistent with its voting with the majority to recognise this new human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment? Some groups such as the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law hope that the UK’s Bill of Rights proposals will now be dropped, as a tangled mess doing the country no credit.
Egypt also voted with the majority, a useful point to bear in mind when encouraging the fullest expression of support for climate action at and beyond COP27.
The eight countries which abstained, as finding themselves unable to recognise this right, were China, Russian Federation, Belarus, Cambodia, Iran, Syria, Kyrgyzstan and Ethiopia.
UN Press Release on the vote –
https://press.un.org/en/2022/ga12437.doc.htm
Statement by UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner –