outdoors

OAS approves human rights
and climate change resolution
by CEDHA

At the close of the 38th Annual General Assembly of the Organization of American States in Medellin, Colombia, the representatives of the hemisphere approved a resolution calling for deepening our understanding of the links between evolving climate change and the implications it has on the capacity of individuals and communities to realize their human rights.

Resolution AG/Res 2429 on Human Rights and Climate Change in the Americas (full text below), adopted yesterday, brings climate change and its impacts fully into the political agenda of the hemisphere’s key human rights and environmental agencies, and opens the way for the development of a regional platform to deepen states' understanding of climate change and its impacts, identify priorities and potential solutions, and allow for more effective and informed engagement in global negotiations on climate change.

The resolution draws attention to the impacts that climate change has on sustainable development and expresses concern for “the consequences it could have for the full enjoyment of human rights,” calling for the hemisphere’s human rights and environmental agencies to inform the states on such impacts.

Argentina presented the resolution for consideration to the OAS recently, concerned that climate change inequitably impacts developing countries, and places vulnerable communities at greater risk, effectively hindering their development opportunities, weakening human rights guarantees for individuals and communities, and placing undue strains on many climate vulnerable states which will have to introduce climate protection programs to ensure that they are meeting their human rights protection obligations.

A human rights perspective, examining the barriers that climate change presents to social and economic development and human rights realization, would offer a critical knowledge to climate vulnerable states which are engaged in global talks on climate change but which have been largely sideline observers in discussions about reducing emissions. Climate polluters have refused to agree on emissions reduction and are also reluctant to commit to paying for the social and economic impacts they are causing to some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities.

The Argentine government is leading an important push within global negotiations on climate change to focus negotiations more on adaptation and mitigation, which include policy, plans and action to address communities suffering the consequences of climate change, as well as the immediate need to secure the transfer of modern technologies such as renewable energies (and the accompanying financing), to developing countries, to ensure more efficient, and less contaminating energy security, but also to protect the lives of the most vulnerable groups affected by climate change.

The resolution calls on states and the hemisphere’s agencies to “pursue and step up the efforts being made from within the OAS to counter the adverse effects of climate change, and to build resilience and the capacity to adapt to the phenomenon of climate change among vulnerable states and populations.” It also engages the hemisphere’s principle human rights body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Department of Sustainable Development, to work collaboratively on this agenda, and integrate their work with the efforts taking place globally through UN agencies such as the Human Rights Council, the IPCC, civil society, and others.

Winston Williams, Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the OAS, spoke to the June 3 OAS Plenary meeting that approved the resolution and said, “Inaction is no longer a viable option. The way forward is clear, we must take steps to reduce our vulnerability to climate change particularly in our region’s least developed countries. Climate change poses a clear and present danger to every country in this hemisphere and we can no longer afford to sit back and do nothing.“

HUMAN RIGHTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE AMERICAS

(Adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on June 3, 2008)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

CONSIDERING that the international community has recognized the adverse effects of climate change at the international level, principally in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol thereto;

RECOGNIZING the autonomy and independence of the process of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol thereto, as the principal forum for consideration of the subject of climate change; and reaffirming the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change set forth in its Article 3.

BEARING IN MIND that in the Declaration of Santa Cruz + 10, the Ministers and High Level Authorities responsible for the Sustainable Development of the Americas reiterate “that human beings are at the center of concerns for sustainable development, that they are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature, and that poverty alleviation is an integral part of sustainable development.”;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT:

The findings of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the adverse effects of climate change, in connection , inter alia, to flooding risks and the dangers of sea level rise;

That the adverse effects of climate change might generate a negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights;

BEARING IN MIND ALSO:

The Declaration of Santa Cruz + 10 of the First Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Authorities on Sustainable Development, adopted in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on December 5, 2006;

The Inter-American Program for Sustainable Development (2006-2009) (PIDS), adopted on the same occasion;

The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the American Convention on Human Rights, the Additional Protocol to the American Convention in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador), and other related human rights instruments; and

The Vienna Declaration and Program of Action of the World Conference on Human Rights;

RECALLING:

That its resolution AG/RES. 1674 (XXIX-O/99), “Climate Change in the Americas,” instructed the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), through its appropriate subsidiary bodies, to consult with member states on the ways of addressing climate change in the Americas within the OAS;

That in its resolution AG/RES. 1682 (XXIX-O/99), “OAS Natural Disaster Reduction and Response Mechanisms,” the member states established the Inter-American Committee for Natural Disaster Reduction (IACNDR) and decided to “promote the exchange of technical and scientific personnel in the area of research into adverse events” that have a harmful socioeconomic and environmental impact on the countries of the Hemisphere;

That its resolution AG/RES. 1736 (XXX-O/00), “The Socioeconomic and Environmental Impacts of Climate Change on the Countries of the Hemisphere,” instructed the General Secretariat to seek to mobilize resources to assist member states in their efforts to adapt to climate change; and

That its resolution AG/RES. 1821 (XXXI-O/01), “The Socioeconomic and Environmental Impacts of Climate Change on the Countries of the Hemisphere,” renewed its instruction to the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) to keep this topic under review and instructed the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD) to continue working with the General Secretariat to mobilize and obtain resources to assist member states in their efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change;

BEARING IN MIND its resolutions AG/RES. 1819 (XXXI-O/01), “Human Rights and the Environment”; and AG/RES. 1896 (XXXII-O/02) and AG/RES. 1926 (XXXIII-O/03), “Human Rights and the Environment in the Americas;”

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT:

That the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 2005/60, “Human rights and the environment as part of sustainable development;” and

That the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution 7/23, “Human rights and climate change;”

CONSIDERING:

The importance of the cooperation activities carried out within the OAS to enable the most vulnerable states and populations to become more resilient to climate change, helping states in their efforts to adapt to climate change and provide natural disaster relief;

The commitments made by the Heads of State and Government to sustainable development, climate change, environmental protection, and protection of human rights in the region, as established in the Declarations and Plans of Action of the Summits of the Americas process at its four regular and two specialized summits;

The Declaration of Barbados and the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, as well as the five-year review conducted at the United Nations in September 1999; and

The pertinent provisions of the declarations, resolutions, and programs of action adopted by major United Nations conferences, in particular the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the program known as Agenda 21, and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and its Plan of Implementation, with special emphasis on the consensus positions reached and the commitments made in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Buenos Aires Plan of Action and Program of Work on adaptation and response, the Nairobi Work Program on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and the Bali Action Plan,

EMPHASIZING:

That economic and social development and environmental protection are interdependent pillars of sustainable development and that poverty eradication is a fundamental goal thereof;

That climate change is a shared concern of all humankind, and that its effects have an impact on sustainable development and could have consequences for the full enjoyment of human rights;

MINDFUL of the need for support from within the Organization for the efforts of member states in this area;

RESOLVES:

1. To reaffirm the commitment made in the various instruments, resolutions, and declarations on human rights, sustainable development, and climate change in the framework of the Organization of American States.

2. To pursue and step up the efforts being made from within the OAS to counter the adverse effects of climate change, and to build resilience and the capacity to adapt to the phenomenon of climate change among vulnerable states and populations.

3. To express an interest in the progress made in other spheres, in the global efforts to face climate change, with regard to the exploration of possible links between climate change and human rights.

4. To instruct the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), with support from the General Secretariat, through the Executive Secretariat of the IACHR and the Department of Sustainable Development, to contribute, within its capacities, to the efforts to determine the possible existence of a link between adverse effects of climate change and the full enjoyment of human rights, seeking coordination to that end with the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and in consultation with the member states, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the OAS Department of Sustainable Development.

5. To invite interested states to contribute to this process.

6. Also to invite civil society organizations to consider the possibility of providing inputs for the purposes envisaged in operative paragraph 2 of this resolution, in accordance with the Guidelines for Participation by Civil Society Organizations in OAS Activities.

7. To request the Permanent Council and the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI), with support form the General Secretariat and the Executive Secretariat of the IACHR, to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-ninth regular session on the implementation of this resolution, the execution of which shall be subject to the availability of financial resources in the program-budget of the Organization.