Human Rights and the Environment

A/HRC/RES/34/20No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2017.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 2011–2021

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/46/7

2021A/HRC/RES/46/7Human rights and the environmentLatestCompare with previous version
2018A/HRC/RES/37/8Human rights and the environmentCompare with previous version
2017A/HRC/RES/34/20Human rights and the environmentCompare with previous version
2016A/HRC/RES/31/8Human rights and the environmentCompare with previous version
2015A/HRC/RES/28/11Human rights and the environmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 topics

Biological Diversity Conferences Ecosystems Environment Environmental Policy Environmental Protection Human Rights Human Rights Policy International Obligations Sustainable Development

What does this mandate say?

36 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the work undertaken to date by the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and takes note of his most recent report on the human rights obligations relating to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity;

Also welcomes the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue of human rights and the environment;

Further welcomes the work undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme in support of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, and in helping to clarify the relationship between human rights and the environment;

Notes with appreciation the work undertaken by the Geneva Pledge for Human Rights in Climate Action and other countries and relevant actors in helping to mainstream the human rights perspective into the climate change and environment agenda;

Calls upon States:

To respect, protect and fulfil human rights, including in all actions undertaken to address environmental challenges, including the rights to life and to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to an adequate standard of living, to adequate food, to safe drinking water and sanitation, and to housing and cultural rights;

To adopt and implement strong laws ensuring, among other things, the rights to participation, to access to information and to justice, including to an effective remedy, in the field of the environment;

To facilitate public awareness and participation in environmental decision-making, including of civil society, women, children, youth, indigenous peoples, local communities, peasants and others who depend directly on biodiversity and the services provided by ecosystems, by protecting all human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;

To implement fully their obligations to respect and ensure human rights without distinction of any kind, including in the application of environmental laws and policies;

To promote a safe and enabling environment in which individuals, groups and organs of society, including those working on human rights and environmental issues, including biodiversity, can operate free from threats, hindrance and insecurity;

To provide for effective remedies for human rights violations and abuses, including those relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, in accordance with their international obligations and commitments;

To establish or maintain effective legal and institutional frameworks to regulate the activities of public and private actors in order to prevent, reduce and remedy harm to biodiversity, taking into account human rights obligations and commitments relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean and healthy environment;

To take into account human rights obligations and commitments relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the implementation of and follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals, bearing in mind the integrated and multisectoral nature of the latter;

Encourages States:

To adopt an effective normative framework for the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, including biodiversity and ecosystems;

To address compliance with human rights obligations and commitments relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the framework of human rights mechanisms, including the universal periodic review, and the submission of State party reports to relevant United Nations human rights treaty bodies;

To facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences between experts in the environmental and human rights fields, and to promote coherence among different policy areas;

To build capacities for taking human rights obligations and commitments into account in their efforts to protect the environment;

To explore ways to incorporate information on human rights and the environment, including climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services, in school curricula, in order to teach the next generations to act as agents of change, including by taking into account indigenous knowledge;

To seek to ensure that projects supported by environmental finance mechanisms respect all human rights;

To collect disaggregated data on the effects of environmental harm, including the loss of biodiversity and the decline of ecosystem services, on persons in vulnerable situations;

To promote environmental action, including climate action that is gender-responsive and includes gender equality and the empowerment of women, and takes into consideration the vulnerability of ecosystems and the needs of persons and communities in vulnerable situations;

To continue to share good practices in fulfilling human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, including biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, through the good practices database maintained by the Special Rapporteur;

To strengthen their efforts to protect biodiversity, including by meeting their national targets, thereby contributing to the achievement of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its associated Aichi Biodiversity Targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity;

To build capacity for the judicial sector to understand the relationship between human rights and the environment;

To foster a responsible private business sector and to encourage corporate sustainability reporting while protecting environmental standards in accordance with relevant international standards and agreements;

To consider further, among other aspects, respect for and the promotion of human rights within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including at the twenty-third session of the Conference of the Parties, to be organized by Fiji and held in Bonn, Germany from 6 to 17 November 2017;

Recognizes the important role played by individuals, groups and organs of society, including human rights defenders, in the promotion and protection of human rights as they relate to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, including biodiversity and ecosystems;

Also recognizes the important role of national human rights institutions in support of human rights relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, including biodiversity and ecosystems;

Requests the Special Rapporteur, in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner:

To convene, prior to the thirty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council, a one-day expert seminar on best practices, lessons learned and the way forward with regard to human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, informed by the findings of the mandate holder;

To invite States and other relevant stakeholders, including academic experts and civil society organizations, to participate actively in the seminar;

To invite relevant experts of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, other international organizations and conventions to participate in the seminar;

To submit to the Human Rights Council, at its thirty-seventh session, a report on the above-mentioned seminar, including any recommendations stemming therefrom, for consideration of further follow-up action;

Stresses the need for enhanced cooperation among States, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Office of the High Commissioner and other relevant international and regional organizations, agencies, conventions and programmes, in accordance with their respective mandates, including by regularly exchanging knowledge and ideas and building synergies in the protection of human rights and the protection of the environment, bearing in mind an integrated and multisectoral approach;

Decides to remain seized of the matter, in accordance with its annual programme of work.

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