UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk flagged climate change as a “spiralling human rights emergency for many countries”

“Last month, in Iraq, the cradle of so many civilisations, I witnessed a small piece of the environmental horror that is our global planetary crisis. In Basra – where 30 years ago date palms lined lush canals – drought, searing heat, extreme pollution and fast-depleting supplies of fresh water are creating barren landscapes of rubble and dust,” Türk told the opening session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Climate change is pushing millions of people into famine. It is destroying hopes, opportunities, homes and lives. In recent months, urgent warnings have become lethal realities again and again all around the world,” the High Commissioner said.

“We do not need more warnings. The dystopian future is already here.  We need urgent action, now. And we know what to do. The real question is: what stops us,” said Türk.

The High Commissioner warned of the risks of the politics of deception, helped by new technologies, lies and disinformation that are mass-produced to sow chaos, to confuse, and ultimately to deny reality and ensure no action will be taken that could endanger the interests of entrenched elites. The most apparent case of this is climate change, he highlighted.

Sustainable Development Goal 16 – on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – encapsulates our way out and forward from the turbulence that we are experiencing, the High Commissioner noted.

“Its emphasis on this interlocking relationship between good governance and development represents the linchpin that holds the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development together. Every development goal is grounded in equality and human dignity. They all require accountable institutions, an impartial, independent rule of law, and vibrant civil society,” he said.

Türk cited the situation across the countries of the Sahel, where most people struggle for daily survival, as another example of the impact of environmental degradation and climate change – a crisis to which they have contributed almost nothing. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger, ­among the eight least developed countries in the world. Resources required for survival, such as fertile land and water, are diminishing, resulting in conflict between communities. The adaptation measures that they so urgently need are far too costly – and the financial support that is regularly promised at international conferences trickles in too slowly.

“None of the challenges faced by these countries can be addressed in isolation: they are interlinked. Climate change, including related droughts and extreme weather events; failure to invest adequately in education, healthcare, sanitation, social protections, impartial justice and other human rights; decades of weak governance, and a lack of transparent and accountable decision-making are the sources that violent extremism draws from,” Türk said.

“With the planetary crisis gaining pace, there is also a vital need for a shift to human rights economies that promote green solutions. I cannot emphasise too strongly the need for a rapid, equitable phase-out of fossil fuels, and effectively financed human rights-based climate action­ – notably for adaptation, and to address loss and damage,” he stressed.

“I am also attentive to the need to counter the impunity of people and businesses who severely plunder our environment. An international crime of ecocide has been proposed for inclusion in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by a number of States and civil society groups. I welcome consideration of this and other measures to expand accountability for environmental damage, both at national and international level,” the High Commissioner said.

At the  SDG summit next week; at COP28, on climate change; and at the Summit of the Future, States need to pivot decisively towards fundamental changes, Türk urged.

“Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, the right to development and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment all build on each other. This is the meaning of the indivisibility and interdependence of human rights. Moving forward together, they contribute to real solutions to our most pressing challenges,” the High Commissioner said.

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact: 

In Geneva

Ravina Shamdasani - + 41 22 917 9169 / ravina.shamdasani@un.org or 

Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org

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