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Rabat – A resolution co-sponsored by Morocco has entrenched as a human right the need to have a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment.” Proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution passed with 43 votes in favor amid four abstentions.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on states to work together to make the newly entrenched human right a reality. She highlighted that the resolution was complemented by the passing of a second resolution, 48/14, which increased the HRC’s focus on climate-related human rights violations through the establishment of a special rapporteur on the issue.
In a press statement, Commissioner Bachelet highlighted that “the Human Rights Council’s decisive action in recognising the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is about protecting people and planet – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat.”
Bachelet emphasized she was “gratified” by the council’s passing of the Morocco-sponsored resolution after having “long called for such a step.” She stated that the HRC vote “clearly recognises environmental degradation and climate change as interconnected human rights crises.”
The commissioner called for “bold action” to “ensure this resolution on the right to a healthy environment serves as a springboard to push for transformative economic, social and environmental policies that will protect people and nature.”
As a co-sponsor of the resolution, Costa Rica’s UN Ambassador Catalina Devandas Aguilar stated that the hope is for the newly passed resolution to “send a powerful message to communities around the world struggling with climate hardship that they are not alone.”
