Since 2021, the Global Pact Coalition has been working on several advocacy actions with a dozen NGOs. In 2021, the Coalition focused much of its efforts on Geneva, where the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution last October recognizing the right to a healthy environment. This resolution called on the UN General Assembly to address the issue.
This is why, since the beginning of 2022, the Coalition has been leading a new campaign in New York. Indeed, the Human Rights Council is a small UN body with only 47 members. In contrast, the UN General Assembly, the legislative body of the UN, includes all states. A recognition by the UNGA of this right would therefore confirm the effective recognition of the right to a healthy environment as a human right.
Following an extensive advocacy campaign by the NGO coalition, on April 12, at a conference on the right to a healthy environment co-sponsored by the Coalition, Costa Rica announced that the Core Group of States working on human rights and the environment (Costa Rica, Morocco, Maldives, Switzerland and Slovenia) would submit a resolution on the right to a healthy environment to the UNGA for vote.
Thanks to the joint efforts of civil society organizations, a draft resolution was presented to Member States on June 21.
This draft resolution is largely based on the resolution adopted in Geneva. The right to a healthy environment is placed at the heart of the resolution and is recognized as a fundamental right to the enjoyment of other rights such as the right to life.
The Coalition is at the heart of the discussions on this resolution. A vote is expected at the end of July. We will be sure to keep you informed of the progress of these discussions.
The recognition of this right by the General Assembly would be a major step forward for the future of international environmental law, for the protection of our environmental rights, our health and the planet.
Sign the petition for the recognition of the Right to a Healthy Environment
To support this campaign, we created a petition calling on the General Assembly to vote in favor of this resolution. The petition will be presented to the United Nations by David R. Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment.
Share our video on the Right to a Healthy Environment
In order to give this campaign the importance it deserves, our videographer, Juan Davila, created a video explaining the importance of recognizing the right to a healthy environment.
We need your help! Share this video with your friends and family so that the movement to have our right to live in a healthy environment is heard. If the General Assembly passes this resolution, it will also be thanks to YOU!
