A Celebration and Stocktaking: Five years since the recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment | HRC63 Side Event

Ahead of the five-year anniversary of the recognition by the Human Rights Council of the human right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, this side event to the 63rd session session of the Human Rights Council will provide an opportunity to celebrate advances and to assess the evolution of the right. The 5th anniversary of the milestone will serve both as commemoration and a moment for renewed commitment to the implementation of the right to a healthy environment.

About this Event

The recognition

8 October 2026 marks the five-year anniversary from the day when the United Nations recognized for the first time that everyone, everywhere, has the human right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The recognition took place at the Human Rights Council as it adopted resolution 48/13 – a resolution that added the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment to the library of internationally recognized rights. The recognition by the United Nations (Human Rights Council resolution 48/13 in 2021 and General Assembly resolution 76/300 in 2022) is the most important recent advancement for the effective protection of the environment and human rights.

Achieved with historic support from States, and after five decades of efforts from United Nations entities, Special Procedure mandate holders, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, and social movements, it highlights what coordinated collaboration can achieve. Since its recognition at the UN, a growing range of actors have also contributed to translating the right into practice, developing practical tools, guidance, knowledge resources and other initiatives to strengthen awareness and understanding of the right.

As humanity grapples with the unprecedented triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and toxic pollution, the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment needs to serve as catalyst for systemic and transformative changes to achieve a just and sustainable future in harmony with nature and centred on people.

The human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment has many interconnected elements; therefore, the implementation of programmes, policies and projects must be done with a holistic approach. As recently affirmed by the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the legal obligations of States with respect to climate change, the right to a healthy environment is a precondition and essential to the effective enjoyment of all human rights – as they are interdependent, inalienable, and indivisible.

Advances since the recognition

Since the UN expressed the recognition, the human right to a healthy environment has continued to gain widespread public and legal attention across the world. Currently, the right is legally recognized in 85 per cent of United Nations Member States (166 out of 193 States) through constitutions, legislation, and regional treaties. The most recent recognitions include Canada, Federal States of Micronesia, Oman, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

In July 2025 the historic Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change from the International Court of Justice unequivocally and unanimously concluded that international human rights law is part of the stringent obligations of States to protect the climate system and the environment. As mentioned above, its paragraph 393 clarified that the human right to a healthy environment is a precondition and essential for the enjoyment of all human rights, and therefore fundamental for States to fulfill their obligation to guarantee the enjoyment of all human rights, while leaving open whether this right qualifies as an independent norm of customary international law.

Regionally the recognition of the right to a healthy environment has advanced, including the ASEAN Declaration on the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment adopted in October 2025, that was welcomed by a group of UN Special Procedures mandate holders Special Rapporteurs who also committed to support its implementation. At the same time, there is a process underway within the Council of Europe to also expressly recognize this right regionally,

The universal recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment has already influenced global environmental governance, as seen in frameworks such as the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Despite this progress, the full realization of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment remains a challenge. The strengthening of multilateral environmental agreements and enhancing the protection of environmental human rights defenders and for more States to recognize the right at the national level is key.

The Human Rights Council and the broader UN system must maintain their leadership role to ensure continued progress, reinforcing their commitment to implementation of this right.

A moment to commemorate, reflect and learn to improve

The five-year milestone provides an opportunity to celebrate advances and to assess the evolution of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The 5th anniversary is both a commemoration and a moment for renewed commitment to the implementation of the right to a healthy environment. It is also a great opportunity to reflect, identify lessons learned, and implement key improvement actions.

This side event to the 63rd session session of the Human Rights Council aims to identify key achievements, lessons learned and good practices to replicate and explore ways for the Human Rights Council and the broader UN human rights system to further promote progress. It will focus on the global perspective to highlight advances achieved thanks to the recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This will include reflecting on the recognition of this right by the International Court of Justice and how this right is essential for the enjoyment of all other human rights. It also aims to assess and identify opportunities for future action needed in the next five years to further implement the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

This event is organized by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and co-sponsored by Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, Monaco, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Environment Programme, the Council of Europe, the Environmental and Climate Justice Laboratory at IBERO, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Service for Human Rights, FIAN International, Franciscans International, the Center for International Environmental Law and the Geneva Environment Network.

A reception in celebration of the fifth anniversary of the recognition is taking place at Palais des Nations on 24 September 2026 from 17:30 to 19:00 CEST.

Environment @ HRC63

The 63rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC63) will take place in Geneva from 7 September to 7 October 2026. Consult this regularly-updated page that highlighted the environmental-related activities of this session.