Maldives debates on climate injustice at UN

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday debated, in a full-session, on the impacts of climate change on full enjoyment of human rights, especially in vulnerable countries. The debate tabled by the Maldives, sought to portray climate change not solely as a scientific issue, but also as a matter of global injustice and human rights , with the poor and vulnerable suffering because of the pursuit of wealth in richer parts of the world. During the debate the Maldives presented a joint statement on behalf of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) outlining the massive negative impacts of global warming on their communities, calling on large emitting States to honor their international legal obligation not to interfere with the enjoyment of human rights in other countries, and urging UN human rights mechanisms to hold such countries accountable. US, EU, Brazil, China, Canada, Mauritius, Bhutan, Uruguay, UK, Russia, Costa Rica, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia and around thirty other States took part in the debate.

The debate was introduced by the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, and Director for Legal Affairs of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Secretariat.

After the opening statements, the Human Rights Council heard from four independent experts on the interface between climate change and human rights: Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies Atiq Rahman; Managing Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law Dalindyebo Shabalala: United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Raquel Rolnik and Professor of Law at Wake Forest University John Knox,. The floor was then opened to States. First to take the floor was Maldives.

Speaking on behalf of 14 highly vulnerable Small Island States including Kiribati, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, Maldives Chargé d’Affaires in Geneva Shazra Abdul Sattar said that climate change threatens a wide-range of internationally-protected human rights in the SIDS and ultimately threatens the right of these countries to exist. She noted that under international law, all countries have an obligation not to interfere with the enjoyment of human rights in other countries – and that this meant that continued interference with the global climate system by some countries is contrary to international human rights law. She also stressed the importance or reaching an ambitious and equitable deal in Copenhagen that would effectively protect human rights in vulnerable countries. She also called on international human rights mechanisms to hold rich polluting countries to account and to impress upon them the need to reduce emissions to “safe levels” consistent with the full enjoyment of human rights in vulnerable countries.

After the Maldives, a number of other countries and NGOs tool the floor including: Azerbaijan, Israel, Philippines, Thailand, India, Mauritius, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, Finland, China, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Israel, Costa Rica, Bhutan, Indonesia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Slovenia, Chad, Cuba, Canada, Algeria, Monaco, Turkey, European Commission, Australia, United States, Mexico, Bolivia, Morocco, the Worldwide Organization for Women, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Civicus-World Alliance for Citizens Participation, and North South XXI.

All agreed that climate change has significant negative implications for the full enjoyment of human rights, and noted also that the impacts fall heaviest on those already in vulnerable situations due to factors including geography, age, gender, minority status and poverty. Many countries congratulated the Maldives on raising the human rights perspective on climate change. They agreed that climate change is an issue of global injustice – with the poor and vulnerable paying the price for the pursuit of wealth in the developed world.

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