GENEVA - Climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are undermining rights to food, housing, health, education, and cultural practices, hitting the poorest and most marginalised communities the hardest. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) today issued new guidance on how States can ensure development while safeguarding the planet for future generations.
In its new General Comment No. 27, the Committee affirmed that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is an essential precondition for the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. It warned that escalating environmental crises are already eroding these rights and pushing the planet toward "irreversible biophysical tipping points that threaten fundamental ecological systems and process that sustain life."
"These planetary environmental threats are driven by unsustainable levels of production and consumption, particularly by developed States that have historically contributed most to environmental degradation and climate change, and shaped by enduring relations of domination over both nature and people, deeply rooted in colonial-era resource extraction," the Committee added.
It highlighted the injustice of the current situation, noting that Indigenous Peoples, peasants and other individuals, groups, and countries, including victims of colonialism, the slave trade and apartheid, have historically contributed least to the environmental crises, but are the most impacted.
The Committee also underscored the interlinkages between the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. "Environmental degradation exacerbates one of the greatest global challenges, eradicating poverty and ending hunger and malnutrition, and fuels migration and refugee crisis," the Committee said, adding that, "These interconnected challenges call for enhanced guidance on implementing economic, social and cultural rights, placing the human dignity of present and future generations, along with environmental justice, at the centre."
It called upon developed States to take the lead in mitigation efforts and provide financial and technological assistance to developing States to enable their effective climate action.
The Committee further underlined international obligations, stressing that States parties have an extraterritorial obligation to prevent business enterprises under their jurisdiction from causing environmental harm that affects human rights in other countries.
"Nature is indispensable to human existence and well-being," the Committee said, stressing that, "At the current rate of resource exploitation, pollution and environmental destruction, without regard for the earth's environmental limits, it is impossible to achieve the equal realization of Covenant rights for all."
General Comments are authoritative explanations and interpretations of various UN human rights treaties issued by treaty bodies to clarify States parties' obligations. The current CESCR General Comment marks a critical step in aligning human rights with today's planetary emergency, setting a clear direction that development must be sustainable and fair, ensuring people's rights without destroying the planet.
