Banks| Dodgy Deals| Map| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Join our Active Allies list
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2020-12-22 00:00:00
Blog: In 2020, the Equator Principles struggle to remain relevant
2020-12-14 00:00:00
The battle to stop Line 3 is heating up on the ground and across the US
2020-12-14 00:00:00
Corporate accountability and the just transition: Frameworks for holding corporations accountable for climate change
2020-12-12 00:00:00
Five years since the Paris Agreement, are banks' 2050 pledges enough to reign in fossil fuel finance?
2020-09-24 12:53:20
Oscislowo open-pit coal mine cancelled
2020-09-08 13:07:41
Strengthened OECD guidance on responsible banking
2020-02-25 10:35:27
JPMorgan Chase Coal and Arctic Policy a step forward but fails to match its climate responsibility as the world’s #1 Fossil Bank
2020-02-18 17:27:23
Civil society groups welcome Royal Bank of Scotland preparing to exit fossil fuels
Connect
2020-11-30 00:00:00
Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
2020-11-24 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II
2020-11-18 00:00:00
Crude Risk: Risks to banks and investors from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
2020-09-16 00:00:00
Principles for Paris-Aligned Financial Institutions: Climate Impact, Fossil Fuels and Deforestation
2020-08-17 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part I
2020-03-18 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Change - Fossil Fuel Finance Report 2020
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Home › News
Hundreds of civil society groups demand human rights are enshrined in 2015 climate agreement
Start

By: International NGOs coalition
2014-12-11
Lima

Contact:

Jo Barrett  jbarrett@careclimatechange.org  / @jo_barrett_ /  +44 (0)7940 703911


Share this page:

More than 200 civil society organisations representing hundreds of thousands of people from 40+ countries, including BankTrack, and 76 leading human rights experts, are calling on ministers meeting in Lima to enshrine ‘human rights for all' in the next year's global climate agreement.
 
In an open letter to top decision-makers published today, individuals and organisations including CARE International, AIDA, CIEL, WWF, 350.org, the World Council of Churches, Greenpeace, Fiji Women's rights movement, the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts plus many others, warn that "a safe climate is critical to the full enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, adequate housing, and self-determination."
 
Yet, the groups warn, there is also increasing recognition by the UN Human Rights Council and others that "climate change and certain actions being taken to address climate change interfere with the enjoyment of human rights protected under international law."
 
With negotiations for the 2015 Paris agreement underway, now is the time to fully integrate rights protections into the foundations of the new treaty, the groups say. They call on ministers to:

  • Recognise the adverse effects of climate change on the enjoyment of human rights, and to adopt urgent and ambitious mitigation and adaptation measures to prevent further harm. 
  • Include language in the 2015 climate agreement  that provides that the Parties shall, in all climate change related actions, respect, protect, promote, and fulfill human rights for all.
  • Launch a new UNCCC ‘work programme'  to ensure that human rights are integrated into all aspects of climate actions.

Kit Vaughan, Director of Climate Change at leading development organisation CARE International says: "Climate change is a global injustice and one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time. At CARE, we are deeply concerned about the devastation that climate change is already causing, its disproportionate impact on the world's poorest people, and on the environments on which we all depend. We are standing with civil society to call for human rights to be the basis for an effective and trusted climate deal."
 
Alyssa Johl, Senior Attorney, Climate and Energy Program,  Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) says: "Human rights is at the core of what is being discussed here in Lima, as climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of peoples and communities around the world. If the international community does not take action to fully consider and integrate human rights into these negotiations, we will miss a critical opportunity to achieve an effective, sustainable and just outcome next year in Paris."
 
John Knox, UN-affiliated independent expert on Human Rights and the Environment, says: "Climate change cannot be effectively addressed without protecting human rights, which is why people are increasingly speaking out on this critical issue. Only yesterday, 76 human rights experts urged governments to recognise the vital importance of human rights. Until we get a signal that we are being heard, we will not stop beating the human rights drum, all the way to Paris."
 
Maria Jose Veramandi, Senior Attorney and Coordinator of the Human Rights  and Environment Programme at the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) says: "Rights must be respected in all climate-related actions. The Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is just one example of where things can go wrong. We have seen a growing number of rights violations as the CDM has started work, including during the construction of the Santa Rita dam in Guatemala, which has led to violence and repression against indigenous communities and the death of two children. We will not accept a climate-impacted world in which human rights are ignored."    

Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted