Human Rights and Climate Change

A/HRC/RES/50/9View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2022.

What other versions does this mandate have?

15 versions · 2008–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/59/25

2025A/HRC/RES/59/25Human rights and climate changeLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/HRC/RES/56/8Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/53/6Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/50/9Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/47/24Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version

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

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Climate Change Climate Change Adaptation Climate Change Mitigation Food Security Human Rights Right to Food

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2023.

2023A/HRC/53/47Adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

21 operative paragraphs

Expresses concern that climate change has contributed and continues to contribute to the increased frequency and intensity of both sudden-onset natural disasters and slow-onset events, and that these adversely affect the full enjoyment of all human rights;

Emphasizes the urgent importance of continuing to address, as they relate to States’ human rights obligations, the adverse consequences of climate change for all, particularly in developing countries and for the people whose situation is most vulnerable to climate change;

Calls upon States to consider, among other aspects, human rights within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

Urges States that have not yet ratified the Paris Agreement to do so;

Recognizes the impact of climate change and of extreme weather and extreme climate phenomena, including the El Niño phenomenon, on agricultural production, food security and nutrition around the world and the importance of designing and implementing actions to reduce their effects, in particular on vulnerable populations, such as rural women, bearing in mind the role that they play in supporting their households and communities in achieving food security and nutrition, generating income and improving rural livelihoods and overall well-being;

Also recognizes the importance for all countries of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow-onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage, and in that regard looks forward to the further operationalization of the Santiago Network for averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, and encourages the Parties to constructively engage in the Glasgow Dialogue to discuss the arrangements for the funding of activities to avert, minimize and address loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change, in the context of relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and article 8 of the Paris Agreement;

Calls upon all States to adopt a comprehensive, integrated, gender-responsive, age-inclusive and disability-inclusive approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation policies, consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the objective and principles thereof, to address efficiently the economic, cultural and social impact and human rights challenges that climate change presents, for the full and effective enjoyment of human rights for all;

Calls upon States to enhance international cooperation and assistance, in particular in financing, the transfer of technology and capacity-building, for mitigation and adaptation measures to assist developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change;

Also calls upon States to better promote the human rights of people in vulnerable situations and their access to livelihoods, food and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, social protection, health-care services and medicines, education and training, adequate housing and decent work, clean energy, science and technology, and ensure that services can be adapted to emergency and humanitarian contexts;

Further calls upon States to develop, strengthen and implement policies for the protection of the rights of people in vulnerable situations in response to climate change, as appropriate, by, among other actions, the inclusion of their rights, specific risks, needs and capabilities in climate action plans and other relevant policies or legislation, the mainstreaming of climate change action into resilient and adaptive social and health care, and the provision of information on climate change and disaster preparedness response and planning through all accessible means of communication;

Urges States to strengthen and implement policies aimed at enhancing international cooperation based on human rights to realize the right to food for all, despite the adverse effects of climate change, and consistent with national and international efforts to combat climate change, and to pursue the right to development, including by addressing inequalities in food distribution and access, ensuring food security, supporting sustainable agriculture and aquatic food production from the oceans, and enhancing more equitable, predictable, transparent and human rights-based forms of food systems governance at the global and national levels;

Reaffirms its commitment to advocate for combating climate change and addressing its adverse impact on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, and recognizes the importance of climate action in the work of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms in a regular, systematic and transparent manner;

Decides to incorporate into its programme of work for the fifty-third session, on the basis of the different elements contained in the present resolution, a panel discussion focusing on the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food for all people and ways forward to address the challenges thereto, as well as on best practices and lessons learned, including science-based approaches and local and indigenous knowledge, and also decides that the panel discussion will have International Sign interpretation and captioning;

Also decides to incorporate into its annual programme of work, beginning in 2023, at a minimum a panel discussion, with sufficient time to discuss different specific themes on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights, including means of implementation for climate action as a mainstreamed element, and further decides that the panel discussion will have International Sign interpretation and captioning;

Invites the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, within their respective mandates, and other relevant stakeholders with appropriate expertise, including academic experts, and civil society organizations to contribute actively to the panel discussion;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a report to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-fifth session identifying the necessary measures for minimizing the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food, taking into account the panel discussion and the interactive dialogue held at the fifty-third session on this matter, to be followed by an interactive dialogue, and to make the report available in accessible formats, including in plain language and easy-to-read versions;

Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with and taking into account the views of States, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme, the Committee on World Food Security, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Meteorological Organization and 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 submit to the Council at its fifty-third session a report on the adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food, to be followed by an interactive dialogue, and also requests the Secretary-General to make the report available in accessible formats, including plain language and easy-to-read versions;

Requests the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change to highlight the adverse impacts of climate change on the full realization of the right to food in his work and reports, taking into consideration the challenges of developing countries, including small island developing States, least developed countries and other climate-vulnerable countries;

Encourages relevant special procedure mandate holders to continue to consider the issue of climate change and human rights, including the adverse impact of climate change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, particularly the rights of people in vulnerable situations, within their respective mandates;

Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide all the human, technical and financial assistance necessary for the effective and timely realization of the above-mentioned panel discussion, reports and interactive dialogues;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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