Human Rights and the Environment

Human rights and the environment are intrinsically intertwined: a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is essential in the enjoyment of our human rights. On 28 July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly declared that everyone on the planet has a right to a healthy environment. This landmark decision is the result of decades of mobilization of various stakeholders. States must now implement their commitments and scale up their efforts. This page aims at listing relevant information, research, data and/or press releases issued by our partners in Geneva and other institutions around the world.

Human Rights and the Environment

Human rights and the environment are intrinsically intertwined: a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is essential in the enjoyment of our human rights; whilst polluted, hazardous and otherwise unhealthy environments potentially violate our human rights.

Environmental rights means any proclamation of a human right to environmental conditions of a specified quality. This means that they are not abstract, remote, irrelevant concepts; they are measurable, prominent and functional aspects of society and its ecology. More than 100 countries incorporate constitutional rights to a healthy environment. When environmental rights are violated, people and the planet suffer from reduced health and well-being.

On 28 July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution declaring that everyone on the planet has a right to a healthy environment. This landmark decision is the result of decades of mobilization of various stakeholders. The resolution, based on a similar text adopted in October 2021 by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organizations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment for all.

More on Human Rights and the Environment

2026 | Human Rights Agenda Geneva Public

Environment @ HRC63

The 63rd regular session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC63) will take place in Geneva from 7 September to 9 October 2026. Consult this regularly-updated page that highlighted the environmental-related activities of this session.

The Role of International Geneva

Geneva is the main international hub on human rights issues and the majority of international universal human rights organs are based here.

United Nations Human Rights Council

The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. It has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. The UN Human Rights Council meets at the UN Office at Geneva.

HRC Sessions

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is the leading UN entity on human rights and represent the world’s commitment to the promotion and protection of the full range of human rights and freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. OHCHR is home for secretariats of international human rights treaty bodies and the UN Human Rights Council.

Volker Türk is the High Commissioner for Human Rights, often known as the UN human rights chief.

Treaty Bodies

The human rights treaty bodies are committees of independent experts that monitor implementation of the core international human rights treaties. Each State party to a treaty has an obligation to take steps to ensure that everyone in the State can enjoy the rights set out in the treaty.

Currently, there 10 treaty bodies that are established by nine human rights international treaties and one optional protocol . The treaty bodies are composed of independent experts of recognized competence in human rights, who are nominated and elected for fixed renewable terms of four years by State parties.

Recently, UN human rights experts also welcomed the impending entry into force of the first environmental human rights treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the Escazú Agreement, lauding it as a ground-breaking pact to fight pollution and secure a healthy environment. The Escazú Agreement also includes strong protections for Indigenous Peoples and environmental human rights defenders, at a time when they are subject to unprecedented levels of violence.

Universal Periodic Review

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The UPR is a State-driven process, under the auspices of the Human Rights Council, which provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations.

UNECE Aarhus Convention

The Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters and its Protocol on PRTRs, hosted by UNECE, empower people with the rights to access information, participate in decision-making in environmental matters and to seek justice. Their powerful twin protections for the environment and human rights can help us respond to many challenges facing our world: from climate change and the loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution to poverty eradication and security. They provide a solid framework for governments to engage the public effectively in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs.

Special Rapporteurs

Special Procedures

There are other types of bodies on human rights such as the Special Procedures who are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. Special procedure mandate-holders are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be renewed for another term. They help advance human rights, focusing on different themes, some of which are related to the environment.

The International Service Human Rights (ISHR) has published a Practical Guide to the UN Special Procedures provides an overview of the system of independent human rights experts known as the Special Procedures, and the different ways human rights defenders can make use of it to further their human rights causes.

Call for submissions | Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council & other bodies

Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment

Astrid Puentes is the current Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment with the following mandate:

Examine the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Promote best practices of the use of human rights in environmental policymaking
Identify challenges and obstacles to the global recognition and implementation of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Conduct country visits and respond to human rights violations

Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes

Bethanie Carney Almroth was appointed Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and wastes (i.e. toxics) in May 2026. The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council and undertakes the following main tasks:

Conduct research and analysis to be presented in separate thematic reports to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly;
Undertake country visits and reporting on the situation in those countries in relation to the concerns of the mandate;
Send letters to governments, business enterprises and other relevant entities regarding the actual or potential exposure of people to hazardous substances and wastes, and other related implications, such as those related to the lack of information, participation and access to remedies.

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change

Elisa Morgera is the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change with the following mandate:

Study and identify how the adverse effects of climate change, affect the full and effective enjoyment of human rights
Identify existing challenges, including financial challenges, of States’ efforts
Synthesize knowledge, including indigenous and local traditional knowledge, and identify good practices, strategies and policies
Promote and exchange views on lessons learned and best practices
Raise awareness on the human rights affected by climate change, especially of persons living in developing countries particularly vulnerable
Facilitate and contribute to the exchange of technical assistance, capacity-building and international cooperation in support of national efforts
Integrate a gender-responsive, age-sensitive, disability inclusive and social-inclusion perspective
Work closely with States and relevant stakeholders, including business enterprises to adopt a human rights perspective

At the 48th session of the Human Rights Council in October 2021, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution establishing the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change (resolution 48/14). Thanks to the efforts of the core group behind resolution 47/24, the possibility of creating a new special procedure addressing the adverse impact of climate change was placed on the agenda of the Council, and was adopted with 42 votes in favor, 1 against and 4 abstentions.

Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

Pedro Arrojo-Agudo is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation with the following mandate:

Focus on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation;
Carry out thematic research
Undertake country missions
Collect good practices
Work with development practitioners on the implementation of the rights to water and sanitation

On 28 July 2010, through Resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human rights to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights. The Resolution calls upon States and international organisations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries, to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders

Andrea Bolaños Vargas is the current Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders with the following mandate:

Promote the effective implementation of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in cooperation and dialogue with Governments and other actors
Study developments and challenges on the right to promote and protect human rights and seek, receive and respond to information on the situation of human rights defenders
Recommend effective strategies to better protect human rights defenders
Integrate a gender perspective and pay particular attention to women human rights defenders

In 2019, a resolution was adopted by consensus at the Human Right Council about the protection of the people who are acting for the environment. It has been followed by a roadmap to see how, at the international level, researchers, academics, states and civil society can join forces in order to make sure that the growing trends of attack against people who are defending the environment including official governmental civil servants, rangers and people from the civil society.

Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples

In 2001, the Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, as part of the system of thematic Special Procedures. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate was renewed by the Commission on Human Rights in 2004, and by the Human Rights Council in 2007. It was most recently renewed in 2019 in resolution 42/20. Albert K. Barume was appointed Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples in March 2020 and took up the role on 1 May 2020.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples was created to:

Promote good practices, including new laws, government programs, and constructive agreements between Indigenous Peoples and states, to implement international standards concerning the rights of Indigenous Peoples;
Make recommendations and proposals on appropriate measures to prevent and remedy violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples;
Report on the human rights situations of Indigenous Peoples around the world;
Address specific cases of alleged violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

Human Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment

What is the right to a healthy environment?

The adoption by the General Assembly (GA), the principal policy-making body of the UN, of the resolution recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment marked a landmark moment which has sent a powerful message that there is widespread, worldwide support for this right – which is already recognized in 156 countries at the national and regional levels.

The resolution on the right to a healthy environment was the result of States’ commitment on environmental issues, many years of advocacy and collaboration by national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, children and young people, and business actors, among others, and supported by UN entities. Putting rights at the centre of addressing the triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution – is more important now than ever and an imperative for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

What are the elements of the right to a healthy environment?

While there is not a universally agreed definition of the right to a healthy environment, the right is generally understood to include substantive and procedural elements. The substantive elements include:

clean air;
a safe and stable climate;
access to safe water and adequate sanitation;
healthy and sustainably produced food;
non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play; and
healthy biodiversity and ecosystems.

The procedural elements include:

access to information,
the right to participate in decision-making,
and access to justice and effective remedies, including the secure exercise of these rights free from reprisals and retaliation.

Realizing the right to a healthy environment also requires international cooperation, solidarity and equity in environmental action, including resource mobilization, as well as recognition of extraterritorial jurisdiction over human rights harms caused by environmental degradation.

Information Note | What is the right to a healthy environment?

A Historic Resolution at the Human Rights Council

An appeal to the Human Rights Council to recognize without delay the right of all to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment was shared with all member states ahead of HRC45. This appeal, entitled “The Time Is Now“, has been signed by more than 1,150 organizations from civil society, social, environmental, youth, gender equality and human rights movements, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, from more than 100 countries. The call was conveyed at HRC46 in a joint NGO statement.

On 9 March 2021, over 60 nations urged the HRC to recognize the right to a healthy environment, moving a step closer towards adding a new universal human right that also benefits the planet to the list. Simultaneously, the UN Environment Programme delivered a joint statement on behalf of 15 UN entities calling for global recognition, implementation, and protection of the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

At the 48th session of the Human Rights Council, in October 2021, States recognized, for the first time, that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right. Resolution A/HRC/48/13 forwarded by the core group on Human Rights and the Environment – Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland – was adopted with 43 votes in favor and 4 abstentions.

UN special rapporteur on human rights and environment David Boyd has called the HRC’s recognition of the human right to a healthy environment a historic breakthrough that has the potential to improve the life of everyone on the planet.

The world’s future looks a little bit brighter today. The United Nations, in an historical development, has for the first time recognised that everyone, everywhere, has a human right to live in a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Read full article →

A Historic Resolution at the UN General Assembly

On 28 July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring that everyone on the planet has a right to a healthy environment. This landmark decision (A/RES/76/300), co-sponsored by 117 member States, is the result of decades of mobilization of various stakeholders. The resolution, based on a similar text adopted in October 2021 by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organizations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment for all. → See countries’ positions

Today is a historic moment, but simply affirming our right to a healthy environment is not enough. The General Assembly resolution is very clear: States must implement their international commitments and scale up their efforts to realize it. We will all suffer much worse effects from environmental crises, if we do not work together to collectively avert them now.
– Michelle Bachelet, 28 July 2022

Legal Recognition of Right to Healthy Environment

The New York University (NYU) Law, in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), developed a Right to a Healthy Environment (R2HE) Toolkit, the first database to map the legal recognition of the right and to analyze significant R2HE case law and developments.

The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is now legally recognized by more than 80 percent of United Nations Member States – 165 out of 193 States. Countries recognize R2HE by acceding to international treaties, through their national constitution or through legislation. International treaties include the African Charter, the Arab Charter, the San Salvador Protocol, the Aarhus Convention, and the Escazú Agreement.

Legal Recognition of R2HE Tracker

Recognition in Other Bodies

Council of Europe

In a Recommendation on human rights and the protection of the environment adopted on 27 September 2022, the Council of Europe calls on its 46 member states to actively consider recognising, at national level, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as a human right. → Read the resolution

Geneva Rights and Environment Talks

The Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment reports to the Human Rights Council during its March session on issues related to their mandate. The Geneva Rights and Environment Talks aim to harness the opportunity of this moment of the year to reflect on the challenges posed by the rapid decline of nature and biodiversity, and on how Geneva contributes to bringing together the actors working towards ensuring the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is upheld for all.

More information on the Geneva Rights and Environment Talks

Pollution, Hazardous Substances, and Human Rights

Though integral to almost all sectors of society, the lack of environmentally sound management of chemicals and waste can have long-lasting negative impacts on human health, society, and on the environment. Such negative impacts violate our human right to live in a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Stakeholders, particularly States and businesses, must ensure that this right is upheld when conducting activities and operations on the ground.

Advancing the Right to Live in a Non-toxic Environment and the Role of Geneva

Highlighting the role stakeholders from International Geneva as a global hub for the governance of hazardous substances, learn how they are actively working to reduce the environmental and health risks from chemicals, including their human rights implications.

More on Human Rights, Hazardous Substances, and the Role of Geneva

Geneva Toxic Free Talks

The Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights reports every Fall to the Council and to the UN General Assembly on issues related to their mandate. The Geneva Toxic Free Talks aim to harness the opportunity of this moment of the year to reflect on the challenges posed by the production, use and dissemination of toxics and on how Geneva contributes to bringing together the actors working in reversing the toxic tide.

Climate Change and Human Rights

Climate change is one of the greatest existential threats for people and the planet. Its harmful effects undermine the full enjoyment and realization of all human rights, posing a serious risk to the fundamental rights to life, health, food and an adequate standard of living of individuals and communities across the world and disproportionately affecting those who are already in situations of vulnerability.

Advancing Rights-based Climate Action and the Role of Geneva

Referred to as the world capital for multilateralism and home to numerous international organizations, permanent missions, non-governmental organizations and other institutions based in Geneva that place climate issues at the center of their work, Geneva is at the center of numerous debates and negotiations, including cross-disciplinary expertise and discussions on human rights and climate change. Placing human rights at the heart of climate action, International Geneva is mobilized in the fight against climate change. Consult the page sharing how several Geneva-based stakeholders that advance the work on human rights and climate change.

More on Human Rights, Climate Change, and the Role of Geneva

Geneva Rights and Climate Talks

The Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change reports to the Human Rights Council during its June session on issues related to her mandate. The Geneva Rights and Climate Talks aim to harness the opportunity of this moment of the year to reflect on the challenges posed by the impacts of climate change, and on how Geneva contributes to bringing together the actors working towards placing human rights at the heart of climate action.

More information on the Geneva Rights and Climate Talks

Biodiversity and Human Rights

Biodiversity and human rights are closely interlinked. Without healthy, functioning ecosystems, which depend on healthy biodiversity, there would be no clean air to breathe, safe water to drink or nutritious food to eat. A healthy biodiversity and functioning ecosystems are essential for human societies. About half of the world’s GDP – about USD 44 trillion – is dependent on natural resources, while nature provides at least USD 125 trillion worth of services annually. Nature also “underpins all dimensions of human health and contributes to non-material aspects of quality of life”, as indicated by the report, Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019).

Human Rights-based Approach in Addressing Biodiversity Loss

In the same manner, the loss of biodiversity has severe consequences for human well-being and human rights. Disruptions in the stability and continuity of ecosystems and the goods and services they provide can negatively impact the full enjoyment of human rights, including the right to life, food, water and sanitation, health and to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (A/HRC/34/49).

The recognition of the right to clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/Res/48/13) and the UN General Assembly (A/Res/76/300) is crucial to tackling the unprecedented biodiversity crisis that is threatening human well-being, human rights and the future of life on Earth. Learn how Geneva actors and stakeholders are advancing the human rights and biodiversity agenda.

Human Rights, Biodiversity, and the Role of Geneva

Environmental Human Rights Defenders

Environmental human rights defenders are those who strive to protect and promote human rights relating to the environment. However, evidence suggests that they remain highly vulnerable and under attack across the globe. As the field of human rights obligations related to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment expands, the need to protect those who protect our environmental rights also becomes more urgent.

According to the United Nations, environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) are “individuals and groups who, in their personal or professional capacity and in a peaceful manner, strive to protect and promote human rights relating to the environment, including water, air, land, flora and fauna.”

Environmental defenders, many of whom are part of or represent Indigenous Peoples, remain highly vulnerable and under attack across the globe. Evidence suggests that as the climate crisis intensifies, violence against EHRDs also increases, whether through assaults, murders, intimidation, harassment, stigmatization, and criminalization.

As the field of human rights obligations related to a clean, safe, healthy and sustainable environment expands, the need to protect those who protect our environmental rights also becomes more urgent.

More on Environmental Human Rights Defenders and the Role of Geneva

Business and Human Rights

Human rights and the environment are intrinsically intertwined due to the environmental nature of some human rights, which have been progressively more recognized and protected. If we are to tackle environmental challenges without leaving anyone behind, businesses must respect both the environment and environmental rights, and ensure they are not violated in their conduct of business operations and beyond..

As Geneva is the main international hub on human rights issues, where majority of international universal human rights organs are based, this update provides a brief overview on the connections among business, environment and human rights, and the role International Geneva plays in strengthening such links.

More on Business and Human Rights, Environment, and the Role of Geneva

Human Rights Day | 10 December

Every year on 10 December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, the day when, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Decades since this landmark occasion, human rights have become more recognized and more guaranteed across the globe. The UDHR has since served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today focuses also on groups in vulnerable situations such as persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and migrants.

However, the promise of the UDHR, of dignity and equality in rights, has been under a sustained assault in recent years. As the world faces challenges new and ongoing – pandemics, conflicts, exploding inequalities, morally bankrupt global financial system, racism, climate change – the values, and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for our collective actions that do not leave anyone behind.

In the face of environmental degradation, including the triple crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, equality for all also means advancing the right to a healthy environment and climate justice. These impacts disproportionately impacts persons, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations, and exacerbate existing inequalities that negatively affect the human rights of present and future generations. As follow-up to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly’s recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, International Geneva is taking urgent action to respect, protect and fulfill this right. Such action should be the cornerstone of a new human rights-based economy that will produce a green recovery from COVID-19 and a just transition.

Human Rights Day 2025 | Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials

In this period of turbulences and unpredictability, where many feel a growing sense of insecurity, disaffection and alienation, the theme of Human Rights Day is to reaffirm the values of human rights and show that they remain a winning proposition for humanity.

This year’s Human Rights Day aims to re-engage people with human rights by showing how they shape our daily lives, often in ways we may not always notice. Too often taken for granted or seen as abstract ideas, human rights are the essentials we rely on everyday, emphasizing that they are positive, essential and attainable.

Through the various channels of participation — via the online form or on social media using the hashtag #OurEverydayRights — this year’s campaign invites everyone to share what matters most in their daily lives. Together, these personal experiences form a rich mosaic of voices and perspectives, illustrated through a global Everyday Essentials art piece by a renowned artist.

Celebrations in Geneva

RightsX Summit

10-11 December 2025 | Palais Wilson & Online

OHCHR

Climate action and human rights: Practical pathways for financial institutions

10 December 2025 | 15:00 – 16:15 CET | Online

UNEP FI

Impact Exchange 2025: Reducing inequality through the progressive realisation of economic, social, and cultural rights ‘leaving no one behind, and the human rights economy

11 December 2025 | Palais des Nations, Room XIV

OHCHR, URG, FNF

High-Level Conference on the Role of Civil Society in the UN at 80 on the occasion of the 2025 International Human Rights Defenders and International Human Rights Days

11 December 2025 | Palais des Nations, Room XIV

FES, ICJ

United Nations Environment Programme and Human Rights

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) works to advance the inclusive and effective implementation of environmental rights law through, protecting environmental defenders, strengthening legal frameworks, building capacities of relevant stakeholders and advancing universal recognition of the right to a healthy environment.

As environmental issues have grown within the work of the Human Rights Council, there has been an agreement between the High Commissioner and the Executive Director of UNEP. One of the outcomes of this close collaboration is the publication on the response to Covid called: “Human Rights, the Environment and Covid-19”. It gives the keys elements on how the environment and human rights are interlinked in what happened with Covid and also with the development of the Covid response.

UNEP and OHCHR Agreement

In 2019, UNEP and the OHCHR have prioritized efforts to promote and protect environmental and human rights with the signing of a new cooperation agreement. The heads of the two UN bodies agreed that although more than 150 countries have recognized the human right to a healthy environment in their constitutions, national laws and jurisprudence, or through regional agreements, significantly more work is needed to inform policy-makers, justice institutions and the public on the various ways they can take action to uphold this right.

Strengthened cooperation will aim to drive better protection of environmental human rights defenders and their families, who frequently face violence – including killings and sexual violence, smear campaigns, and other forms of intimidation. The partnership will also encourage greater acceptance by leaders and governments of the human right to a healthy environment pursuing efforts toward its global recognition. It will seek to increase support to national governments to promote human rights-based policies, particularly in terms of sustainable management of natural resources, development planning, and action to combat climate change.

To support the growing community of practice between the two entities, UNEP and OHCHR are compiling updates in the Environment Rights Bulletin. It showcases best practices related to processes at the country, regional and global levels of relevance to the human rights-environment nexus. The latest edition published in October 2021 provides global updates and resources, as well as a focused section on biodiversity prepared on the occasion of the opening of CBD COP15.

UNEP & OHCHR Environmental Rights Bulletin

Human Rights & Environment @ UN General Assembly

At the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, various UN Special Rapporteurs are expected to present their reports to the Assembly. Environment-related reports will be listed below.

UNGA80

A/80/114 | Tipping points: human rights defenders, climate change and a just transition | UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
The report examines contributions by human rights defenders to addressing climate change and achieving a just transition, despite the risks they face.
A/80/117 | Democratic water governance under a human rights-based approach | UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
The report advocates that freshwater and aquatic ecosystems should be recognized as common goods and vital assets for the survival, coexistence and cohesion of human societies. This recognition is essential together with human rights, particularly those related to drinking water and sanitation. Therefore, it is imperative to promote a human rights-based approach to the governance of freshwater and aquatic ecosystems.
A/80/174 | Military activities and toxics | UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights
The report examines the human rights implications of toxics released by military activities. Military activities before, during and after armed conflict generate toxic legacies that harm human health, disrupt ecosystems and livelihoods, and undermine peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts. The report documents sources of exposure and their impacts on human and environmental health, and highlights the need for robust legal standards and measures to prevent, mitigate and remediate the harm caused by military contamination, in line with the human rights obligations of States.
A/80/181 | Identification, demarcation, registration and titling of Indigenous Peoples’ lands: practices and lessons | UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples
The report explores the current global challenges facing Indigenous Peoples’ right to traditional territories, focusing on fundamental notions about the importance of land, territories and resources. It provides a foundational understanding of the rights and then reviews regional trends with regard to identification, demarcation, registration and titling; the criminalization of Indigenous land rights defenders; and the interplay between Indigenous Peoples’ ancestral territories and international security.
A/80/187 | Framework for environmental, social and human rights impact assessments and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment | UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The report clarifies States’ obligations regarding environmental impact assessment processes and the need to include human rights and social impacts for comprehensive and integrated assessments. The report, by highlighting challenges and best practices aligned with human rights and international obligations, is intended to improve these processes, presenting ways in which existing assessment frameworks must evolve to effectively and comprehensively evaluate potential environmental, climate, biodiversity, health, social, cultural, economic and human rights impacts through comprehensive and integrated assessments, on the basis of the best-available science, including Indigenous and traditional science, and through transparent, participatory processes.
A/80/188 | A human rights-based approach to the energy transition | UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change
The report contains a synthesis of evidence of the positive and negative human rights impacts of renewable energy development and its reliance on minerals. It clarifies States’ obligations and the responsibilities of other actors to support a human rights-based approach to the energy transition.
A/80/213 | Corporate power and human rights in food systems | UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food
Corporate power in food systems is highly concentrated, allowing a relatively small group of people to shape food systems in a way that serves the ultimate goal of profit maximization instead of the public good. The report examines how a relatively small number of corporations have amassed so much power over our food systems and outlines what is to be done to: curtail corporate power; ensure food markets are fair and stable; and hold corporations accountable for human rights violations in food systems.
A/80/279 | Necessary reforms to the international financial architecture | UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order
Although international financial institutions claim neutrality, their policies prioritize market liberalization, deregulation and fiscal discipline over social equity. The exclusion of human rights from the core mandates of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has been challenged as legally untenable given their status as specialized institutions within the United Nations system and their members’ binding obligations under international law. The report sets out recommendations on comprehensive governance reforms, including rebalanced voting rights, the elimination of veto powers, due diligence in lending, better coordination of all entities in the United Nations ecosystem and the institution of democratic safeguards.
A/80/345 | Safety of journalists and the issue of impunity | UN Secretary-General
The present report describes the current situation in relation to the safety of journalists and media workers worldwide. It focuses on the safety of those reporting on climate change, environmental and disaster issues, including women journalists and media workers. It also provides an overview of the activities of the United Nations Network of Focal Points on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity. The report concludes with recommendations to improve the safety of journalists reporting on climate change, environmental and disaster issues.
A/80/351 | Land and the right to adequate housing | Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context
The present report argues that it is necessary to reframe land as an essential component of the right to adequate housing. This requires moving away from the idea of land as a commodified asset for investors to speculate over or a State asset that can ignore the rights of those living on it. Land ownership and use should be regulated so as to ensure that land serves the social function of securing adequate housing for all. The present report is an appeal for an understanding of land from below, anchored in communal, non-exclusivist and democratic forms of land use and management.

UNGA79

Reports presented to UNGA79.

A/79/160 | Mobile Indigenous Peoples | UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples
The report considers the situation of mobile Indigenous Peoples, addressing the challenges they face to their legal recognition, land rights and mobility, including transboundary movement, as well as the challenges caused by the impact of armed conflict, and also considers the unique situation of Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation and initial contact.
A/79/163 | Gender and toxics | UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights
The report elaborates on the State’s duty to prevent hazardous substances and waste from generating or deepening gendered injustices, especially against women and girls, gender-diverse persons and poor men, and especially when they are from marginalized communities.
A/79/168 | Climate justice: loss and damage | UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development
The report develops a climate justice framework comprising four pillars (mitigation, adaptation, remediation and transformation) and 12 overarching human rights principles. The UN Special Rapporteur proposes that climate change-related loss and damage, which undermines the right to development of individuals and communities, especially those living in developing countries, should be seen as part of the remediation pillar of the climate justice framework.
A/79/176 | Access to information on climate change and human rights | UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change
The report explores the specificities, challenges and good practices related to access to information on climate change and human rights. It clarifies States’ international obligations, individually and as part of international cooperation, as well as the responsibility of businesses.
A779/270 | Overview of the implementation of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment | UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Identifying key progress as well as the most pressing challenges and opportunities, the report aims to advance the understanding of differentiated impacts, considering situations of vulnerability, and through an intersectional lens, and identifies conclusions and provides recommendations to States on how to fulfil their human rights obligations.

Learning

Introduction to Human Rights and the Environment

UNITAR / UNEP / InforMEA

The Introduction to Human Rights and the Environment course covers the relationship between human rights and the environment; explains the bases for the application of human rights to environmental issues, and the procedural and substantive obligations relating to the environment; and gives examples of constitutions that have incorporated a right to a healthy environment, good practices in procedural and substantive environmental protection.

Environmental Human Rights Defenders

InforMEA

The course focuses on the crisis of the environmental defenders.

Our Rights, Our Planet Online Training

Articolo12 / Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative (CERI) / Terre des Hommes (TdH) / UNEP

The online resource is a free training tool for young people to learn about and stand up for their environmental rights.

Resources

General

Multilateralism Under Strain: Why the Human Rights Council Matters for Environmental Justice | Francesca Mingrone, CIEL | 23 March 2026
The Environmental Negotiation Leaps of 2022 | Ian Fry | IISD | 16 February 2023
SR climate change and human rights writes on the environmental milestones of 2022 and on IISD’s new report The State of Global Environmental Governance.
The Universal Declaration: a catalyst for environmental human rights action | OHCHR | 7 December 2022
“When it comes to human rights, we need all hands on deck,” says new UN Human Rights Chief | OHCHR | 17 October 2022
Human Rights and the Environment | UNEP | 9 December 2020

Climate Change and Human Rights

Resources

Human rights, climate change and migration | OHCHR and climate change
- Key messages on human rights, climate change and migration
Mapping Loss and Damage Activities in 2024 | Loss and Damage Collaboration

Relevant News

World Court says countries are legally obligated to curb emissions, protect climate | UN News | 23 July 2025
UN experts hail landmark Inter-American Court opinion on States’ extensive duties to protect the climate | OHCHR | 11 July 2025
Türk hails stance by Inter-American Court of Human Rights on States’ obligations to tackle climate crisis | OHCHR | 4 July 2025
Violations of the European Convention for failing to implement sufficient measures to combat climate change | European Court of Human Rights | 9 April 2024
Mapping Loss and Damage Activities in 2024 | Loss and Damage Collaboration
States’ Human Rights Obligations in the Context of Climate Change: Guidance Provided by the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies | CIEL | August 2024
Global Climate Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review | UNEP | 27 July 2023
Joint Statement at HRC53 on the importance of transparent, inclusive, safe and meaningful participation by civil society in international climate discussions | EU, on behalf of 70 States | 3 July 2023
Funds for world’s climate hotspots woefully neglect the needs of children, new report finds | UNICEF | 22 June 2023
Joint Statement: UAE Human Rights Record Ahead of COP28 | Human Rights Watch | 1 May 2023
States must step up climate action now, before it is too late: UN expert | OHCHR | 23 March 2023
Status of climate applications before the European Court | European Court of Human Rights | 9 February 2023
Human Rights and Climate Change | Interview with SR Ian Fry and Therese Arnasen | CB Stories – PCCB Network Podcast | 16 December 2022
Egypt: UN experts alarmed by harassment of civil society actors at COP27 climate summit | OHCHR | 18 November 2022
Human Rights implications of COVID-19 response measures in the context of climate change | OHCHR | 16 November 2022
Secretary-General’s remarks to High-Level opening of COP27 | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres | 7 November 2022 | Video
What Does a Human Rights-based Approach to Addressing Loss and Damage Look Like?: Key Demands for the Outcomes of Cop 27 at the Intersection of Loss and Damage and Human Rights | ESCR-Net, Human Rights & Climate Change Working Group, Loss & Damage Collaboration | 1 November 2022
Egypt: UN experts alarmed by restrictions on civil society ahead of climate summit | OHCHR | 7 October 2022
Australia should compensate Torres Strait Islanders for climate crisis failure, UN says | | Adam Morton and Paul Karp | The Guardian | 23 September 2022
Findings of consultations with children and young people informing General Comment No. 26 | Child Rights Environment Report
Bangladesh: First visit by UN human rights expert on climate change | OHCHR | 29 August 2022
HRC Advisory Committee Concludes its 28th Session – Advances Work on New Technologies for Climate Protection and on Racial Justice and Equality | 28th Session of HRC Advisory Committee | 12 August 2022
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on climate change, human rights, and migration | A/77/189 | 19 July 2022
Violence against women and girls in the context of the climate crisis, including environmental degradation and related disaster risk mitigation and response | Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences | A/77/136 | 11 July 2022
Promoting Human Rights in Climate Action: A Global Stocktake Informed by Human Rights | CIEL
Climate change expert brings passion, experience to new post | OHCHR | 29 April 2022
UN appoints first independent expert on climate change and human rights | Interview, UN News | 25 April 2022
Climate Crisis and Displacement: From Commitment to Action | Platform on Disaster Displacement | March 2022
States’ Human Rights Obligations in the Context of Climate Change: Guidance Provided by the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies | CIEL | March 2022
A UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights & Climate Change? Regional Perspectives | CIEL | January 2021
The Human Rights Impact of Climate Change: An International and Local Challenge | Michelle Bachelet | Speech at HRC49 Side Event | 14 March 2022
Addressing the adverse impact of Climate Change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights | HRC48 Side Event | 15 September 2021
Safe Climate Report (A/74/161) | SR Environment
Frequently Asked Questions on Human Rights and Climate Change, Fact Sheet No. 38 | OHCHR
Concept note of the General comment on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change | OHCHR Committee on the Rights of a Child
- About General Comment No. 26 on children’s rights and the environment
Summary of the panel discussion on the human rights of older persons in the context of climate change – Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/49/61)

Biodiversity and Human Rights

Relevant News

Open Letter on priorities on human rights-based biodiversity action at COP16 | Volker Türk | OHCHR | 11 October 2024
Conservation versus human rights: Kenya’s Ogiek dilemma | The New Humanitarian | 24 April 2024
Adopting a Human Rights-based Approach to Ecosystem-based Adaptation: A Contribution to Sustainable Development | UNEP | 23 January 2023
Advancing a Human Rights-Based Approach to the Global Biodiversity Framework | OHCHR & UN EMG | December 2022
Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: Urgent need to protect nature and human rights, say UN experts | OHCHR | 6 December 2022
Open letter from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework | OHCHR High Commissioner | 2 December 2022
A Rights-based Path for People and Planet – proposals for realising human rights in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework | Human Rights and Biodiversity Working Group | 30 November 2022
Integrating Human Rights in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (working draft) | OHCHR | March 2022
Human Rights and Biodiversity | UNEP & OHCHR
[العربية] [中文] [ English] [Français] [Русский] [Español]
CBD Human Rights in Biodiversity Working Group Briefs | FPP, CBD Alliance, GYBN, ICCA Consortium, Natural Justice, SwedBio, Tebtebba Foundation, WWF, Friends of the Earth International, CBD Women’s Caucus and Women4Biodiversity)
How to Integrate Human Rights into Biodiversity Conservation in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework | SwedBio
Human Rights-Based Approaches to Conserving Biodiversity: Equitable, Effective and Imperative” | A policy brief from the UN Special rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment | February 2021
Human right to a healthy environment for a thriving earth – Handbook for weaving human rights, SDGs and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework | Stockholm Resilience Centre Handbook | May 2019
Environmental Rights Bulletin – Special Theme: Biodiversity | UNEP & OHCHR | Third Edition, October 2021

Toxics, Pollution and Human Rights

Relevant News

Information submitted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labour Organization on just transition and human rights relevant to the plastics treaty | OHCHR and ILO | 12 November 2023
Humanity cannot afford to aggravate the toxification of the planet: UN special rapporteur | Global Times | 11 June 2023
Exploring key human rights issues arising from plastic pollution in the tourism, fisheries, and waste management sectors – through a gender lens | IUCN | 16 March 2023
Key human rights considerations for the negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution | OHCHR | 30 November 2022
Global Plastics Treaty: Opportunity to Protect Rights | Human Rights Watch | 23 November 2022
German citizens sue government as air pollution hits health | Client Earth | 26 September 2022
Human Rights Council: Mercury, small-scale gold mining and human rights | Minamata Convention | 22 September 2022
“Taranto zona di sacrificio”, il manifesto shock dei Genitori tarantini contro l’inquinamento dell’ex Ilva | La Reppublica | 30 August 2022
Citizens and associations held a flash mob in front of the poster that quotes the UN SR Environment report of 12 January 2022. Zaninelli: “The United Nations dossier is passed over in silence”. (Reed also UN SR Toxics Press Release of 13 December 2021)
Polluted planet: UN expert urges ambitious, urgent action to tackle human rights violations | OHCHR | 10 March 2022
Millions suffering in deadly pollution ‘sacrifice zones’, warns UN expert | The Guardian | Damien Gayle | 10 March 2022
UN environment expert: the world’s toxic wastelands have millions of residents (Interview with SR Environment) | Michelle Langrand | Geneva Solutions | 10 March 2022
The Right to Live in a Non-Toxic Environment | Marcos Orellana, David Boyd | Rosa Luxembourg Foundation | 18 March 2022
Toxics exposure: ‘Follow the science’ to protect lives – UN expert | SR Toxics | 21 September 2021
NGOs affirm the Right to Science is Critical for Protecting the Range of Human Rights | CIEL | 21 September 2021
Developing a Global Science-Policy Body on Chemicals and Waste
UN expert slams chemical industries for spreading fake news about risks | Michelle Langrand | Geneva Solutions | 22 September 2021

Right to a Healthy Environment

Relevant News

Monitoring the Right to a Healthy Environment: A Tool for National Human Rights Institutions | GANHRI, UNDP & OHCHR | 31 March 2026
The R2HE Tool supports National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in bridging the legal, policy, and practice gaps that exist between human rights and environmental systems. As human rights and the environment are deeply interlinked, the Tool helps NHRIs and other actors assess national conditions of the R2HE using the adaptable “TREE” structure, allowing them to evaluate the relevant Themes, Rules, Enforcement and oversight, and actual Environmental harms.
Council of Europe must recognise the right to a healthy environment, UN experts urge | OHCHR | 5 May 2025
Healthy Environment: A Human Right and Customary International Law | UN SR Astrid Puentes | 29 January 2025
Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment welcomes decisions supporting ocean protection in Norway and Thailand, at the beginning of a critical year for the ocean and human rights | SR right to healthy environment | 24 January 2025
Right to a Healthy Environment (R2HE) Toolkit | NYU & UNEP
New Guidance for Employers on the UNGA Resolution on the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment | IOE & Konrad Adenauer Foundation | 17 July 2024
UN expert publishes User Guide on right to healthy and sustainable environment | OHCHR | 22 April 2024 | User Guide available here
Link between humans and the environment must be preserved | OHCHR | 16 November 2023
Unpacking the Right to a Healthy Environment: How national and regional laws and jurisprudence clarify the scope and content of the universal right | Universal Rights Group | 4 July 2023
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child | The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recognized that all children have a fundamental human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, adopting General Comment 26 on Children’s rights and the environment with a focus on climate change.
The Committee of Ministers calls on member states to recognise the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right | Council of Europe | 30 May 2023
In a Recommendation on human rights and the protection of the environment, the Council of Europe calls on its 46 member states to actively consider recognising, at national level, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as a human right.
UN Special Rapporteur calls for accelerated, gender-transformative climate and environmental action | IUCN | 3 March 2023
What is the Right to a Healthy Environment? | UNDP, OHCHR, UNEP | 5 January 2023
Environmental Justice: Securing Our Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment | UNDP | 17 June 2022
What now? Options for next steps following UN recognition of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment | Marc Limon | URG | 7 November 2022
Does the right to a healthy environment need a treaty? | Michelle Langrand | Geneva Solutions | 21 October 2022
Setting a Roadmap for a Feminist Green Transformation: Using Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights as Guiding Tools for a Gender-Just Transition | GI-ESCR | 3 October 2022
Marshall Islands takes US nuclear legacy to the Human Rights Council | Michelle Langrand | Geneva Solutions | 3 October 2022
Committee of Ministers calls on member states to recognise the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right | Council of Europe | 27 September 2022
UNGA Declaration on the Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment and what this could mean for us in Africa | Dale Pascal | Natural Justice | 8 September 2022
Press conference by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet | 25 August 2022
On her last press conference as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, speaks about the work of the office in advancing the recently recognized human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
What companies need to know about the new human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment | Catie Shavin | GBI | 4 August 2022
Is the U.N. declaration on a ‘human right to a healthy environment’ a meaningless gesture? | William F. Felice | Tampa Bay Times | 16 July 2022
UN General Assembly declares access to clean and healthy environment a universal human right | UN News | 28 July 2022
The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment | A/RES/76/300 | UN General Assembly | 28 June 2022
The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy, sustainable environment – here’s where resolutions like this can lead | Joel E. Correia | The Conversation | 5 August 2022
With 161 Votes in Favour, 8 Abstentions, General Assembly Adopts Landmark Resolution Recognizing Clean, Healthy, Sustainable Environment as Human Right | UN News | 28 July 2022
Why the UN General Assembly must back the right to a healthy environment | Interview with SR Environment | UN News | 22 July 2022
Historic UN resolution recognizes healthy environment is a human right | UNDP | 28 July 2022
Emergency Measure: Making a Healthy Environment a Human Right | Katie Puckett | The Possible | June 2022
Environment: Millions of lives at stake amid unprecedented challenges – UN experts | Stockholm+50 Press Release | SR on environment and human rights, SR on toxics and human rights, SR rights of Indigenous Peoples, SR on climate change | 30 May 2022
Catastrophic environmental impacts of conflicts jeopardize human rights around the world – UN expert | World Environment Day Press Release | SR Environment | 3 June 2022
Major win for environmental rights at UN Human Rights Council | Geneva Solutions | 8 October 2021
Why all human rights depend on a healthy environment | David Boyd | The Conversation | 27 October 2020

Environmental Human Rights Defenders

Relevant News

Safeguarding Civil Society Space at the United Nations – A Crucial Element in Human Rights Promotion and Protection | ICJ & FES | 17 March 2026
More than 2,100 land and environmental defenders killed globally between 2012 and 2023 | Global Witness | 10 September 2024
Elections and global crises put freedom of expression to the test | Geneva Solutions | 23 June 2024
Children as defenders of human rights: a study on Council of Europe member states | Council of Europe | 13 March 2024
Detention of environmental human rights defender Hoang Thi Minh Hong | UNEP | 17 June 2023
How environmental conflicts hurt — and motivate — women activists | Grist | 15 June 2023
ISHR submits a petition supporting environmental defender Anexa Alfred Cunningham | ISHR | 5 June 2023
Un expert de l’ONU salue le rejet par le Vatican de la « doctrine de la découverte » | UN News | 10 April 2023
UN rapporteur on environmental defenders: ‘The French state’s response seemed largely disproportionate’ | Le Monde | 31 March 2023
Michel Forst elaborated on this topic in an op-ed on the criminalisation of environmental defenders.
Brazil: Ratify Regional Environment Pact | Stand with Environmental Defenders in the Escazu Agreement | Human Rights Watch | 23 March 2023
It’s time to stop threats against human rights defenders and start celebrating the vital work they do | Mary Lawlor | Irish Examiner | 15 March 2023
HRC52: Support consensus renewal of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders | ISHR | 27 February 2023
Costa Rica pulls back on U.N.-backed climate agreement named in its honor | Alvaro Murillo | Reuters | 2 February 2023
Here’s How We Protect Earth’s Defenders | Mie Hoejris Dahl | Atmos | 4 January 2023
UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders presents his vision for mandate to ensure protection under the Aarhus Convention | UNECE | 24 November 2022 | [Full statement presented by SR Michel Forst on 23 November 2022]
Environmentalists in danger | DW Documentary | 29 October 2022
A deadly decade for land and environmental activists – with a killing every two days | Global Witness | 29 September 2022
UN experts slam Belarus for exiting environmental rights convention | Michelle Langrand | Geneva Solutions | 11 August 2022
Understanding and responding to the protection needs of climate activists and movements | URG | May 2022
Responding to the Needs of Environmental Defenders and Civil Society | UNEP | 22 April 2020
Human Rights Council Discusses the Right to Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment and Foreign Debt | OHCHR | 2 March 2020

Resources

University of Geneva: Workshop and Public Roundtable – Supporting Environmental Defenders
ICCA Consortium supports the global movement for Indigenous Peoples’ & Local Communities’ collective territories of life (ICCAs). These are under increasing threat, as are their custodians. The Consortium is attempting to respond via several initiatives.
International Land Coalition: a global alliance of civil society & intergovernmental organizations working together to realize land governance for & with people at country level, responding to needs & protecting rights of those who live on & from the land.
In 2018, UNEP launched the Promoting Greater Protection for Environmental Defenders Policy.
In 2018, UNEP also launched the Environmental Rights Initiative, aiming at bringing environmental protection nearer to the people by assisting state and non-state actors to Promote, Protect and Respect Environmental Rights.
Environment-rights.org is a collaborative resource portal for environmental human rights defenders. It is designed as a ‘living’ platform, constantly updated and expanded.
Not1More (N1M) is an environmental campaign group founded in 2016 that supports frontline environmental defenders and investigates the root causes of environmental conflict.
The Zero Tolerance Initiative, launched in 2019, seeks to address violence, intimidation and killings of Indigenous People & other human rights defenders in global supply chains.

Business and Human Rights

Statement in support of the adoption of the European Union Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence | UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention | 15 February 2024
EU: Major Step For ‘Deforestation-Free’ Trade: Companies Required to Respect Environment, Human Rights in Supply Chain | Human Rights Watch | 19 April 2023
A new EU law establishes the legal requirements for European businesses regarding biodiversity loss and human rights abuses embedded in their international supply chains.
Human rights and environmental due diligence laws crucial to combat irresponsible business activities – UN expert | 4 July 2022
The Special Rapporteur launched a brief containing a set of recommended elements for human rights and environmental due diligence laws.

Other Themes

War, mining and disinformation threaten fundamental right to healthy environment: UN expert Astrid Puentes Riaño | Paula Dupraz-Dobias | Geneva Solutions | 16 March 2026
UN-Water Policy Brief: Towards a Human Rights-Based Approach to Water, Sanitation and Environmental Action | UN Water | 18 March 2026
Getting organized. EU directive is a chance for states to tackle environmental crime as organized crime | GITOC | 9 February 2026
ICC Office of the Prosecutor launches Policy on Addressing Environmental Damage Through the Rome Statute | International Criminal Court | 4 December 2025
The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched its Policy on Addressing Environmental Damage Through the Rome Statute. The first Policy issued by the OTP in this area outlines how the Office may use its mandate and powers to investigate and prosecute Rome Statute crimes with an environmental dimension. Consistent with the OTP’s mandate and its Policy on Complementarity and Cooperation, the Policy also highlights the Office’s support for national efforts to investigate and prosecute environmental crimes.
New Council of Europe convention marks milestone in the fight against environmental crime | COE | 3 December 2025
In a landmark move for global environmental protection, the Convention on the protection of the environment through criminal law was today opened for signature. It provides the foundation for a coherent criminal-justice response by states to environmental crime, including across borders.
The precautionary principle and deep-seabed mining: A State obligation under international law that must be urgently respected | OHCHR | May 2025
Realising human rights as a critical contribution to confronting the triple planetary crisis | URG | May 2024
From March 2023 through March 2024, the Universal Rights Group (URG) conducted an analysis to assess and understand the extent to which the United Nations (UN) human rights system focuses on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, as well as the level of implementation and impact of environment-related recommendations extended to States by the three main human rights mechanisms: the UPR, the Treaty Bodies, and the Special Procedures.
Principles for an accountable private sector in a just energy transition | Christian Aid | 12 April 2024
The new report, Getting Down to Business, examines the role of the private sector in delivering a just and equitable energy transition, and the need to ensure business both respects human rights and contributes to their fulfilment.
Draft general comment No. 27 on children’s rights to access to justice and effective remedies | UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Environmental Human Rights as a Tool in Early Warning and Conflict Prevention: The Role of the Human Rights Council | Geneva Academy | 29 January 2024
Environmental Rule of Law: Tracking Progress and Charting Future Directions | UNEP | 22 November 2023
Protect the ‘right to science’ for people and the planet | Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights | 1 November 2023
Key human rights considerations on the impact of seabed mining | OHCHR | 10 July 2023
What’s next: the legacy of the UN Water Conference | SR Rights to Water and Sanitation | 5 April 2023
Open-Letter from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on priorities for human rights-based water governance at the UN 2023 Water Conference | OHCHR | 17 March 2023
Armed Conflicts, Environment and Human Rights | Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue | 20 October 2022

GEN Updates

Human Rights, Climate Change, and the Role of Geneva

Human Rights, Biodiversity, and the Role of Geneva

Human Rights, Hazardous Substances, and the Role of Geneva

The Ocean, Human Rights, and the Role of Geneva

Environmental Human Rights Defenders

Indigenous Peoples and the Role of Geneva

Business and Human Rights, Environment, and the Role of Geneva

Just Transition and the Role of Geneva

GEN Human Rights and Environment Talks

Geneva Rights and Environment Talks

Geneva Rights and Climate Talks

The Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change reports to the Human Rights Council during its June session on issues related to their mandate. The Geneva Rights and Climate Talks aim to harness the opportunity of this moment of the year to reflect on the challenges posed by the impacts of climate change, and on how Geneva contributes to bringing together the actors working towards placing human rights at the heart of climate action.

Geneva Toxic Free Talks

The Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights reports every fall to the Council and to the UN General Assembly on issues related to their mandate. The Geneva Toxic Free Talks aim to harness the opportunity of this moment of the year to reflect on the challenges posed by the production, use, and dissemination of toxics and on how Geneva contributes to bringing together the actors working in reversing the toxic tide.