Climate
crisis is greatest ever threat to human rights, UN warns
Rights
chief Michelle Bachelet highlights role in civil wars
‘The world
has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope’
Agence
France-Presse in Geneva
Mon 9 Sep
2019 16.27 BSTLast modified on Mon 9 Sep 2019 17.17 BST
Michelle
Bachelet: ‘The fires currently raging across the rainforest may have
catastrophic impact on humanity as a whole, but their worst effects are
suffered by the women, men and children who live in these areas.’
Climate
change is not only having a devastating impact on the environments we live in,
but also on respect for human rights globally, the UN has warned.
The UN
rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, cited the civil wars sparked by a warming
planet and the plight of indigenous people in an Amazon ravaged by wildfires
and rampant deforestation.
She also
denounced attacks on environmental activists, particularly in Latin America,
and the abuse aimed at high-profile figures such as the teenage campaigner Greta
Thunberg.
“The world
has never seen a threat to human rights of this scope,” she told the UN human
rights council in Geneva.
“The
economies of all nations, the institutional, political, social and cultural
fabric of every state, and the rights of all your people, and future
generations, will be impacted” by climate change, she warned.
The 42nd
session of the council opened with a minute of silence for the victims of
Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, where at least 44 have been killed and
thousands of homes reduced to rubble.
“The storm
accelerated with unprecedented speed over an ocean warmed by climate shifts,
becoming one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever to hit land,” Bachelet
said.
Low-lying
small island states like the Bahamas, which are heavily affected by climate
change, are quickly seeing rights to water, sanitation, health, food, work and
adequate housing, she warned. She called for international action to mitigate
the impact there.
The UN high
commissioner for human rights also denounced the “drastic acceleration of
deforestation of the Amazon.
“The fires
currently raging across the rainforest may have catastrophic impact on humanity
as a whole, but their worst effects are suffered by the women, men and children
who live in these areas,” she said.
She urged
authorities in Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil to “ensure the implementation of
longstanding environmental policies … thus preventing future tragedies”.
Bachelet’s
comments risk further angering the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who
last week accused her of meddling in his country’s affairs after she criticised
the deteriorating rights situation there.
The UN
rights chief also highlighted the impact climate change is having on insecurity
around the world. She cited a UN estimate that 40% of civil wars over the past
six decades have been linked to environmental degradation.
In the
Sahel region of Africa for instance, degradation of arable land “is
intensifying competition for already scarce resources”, she said. This in turn
exacerbates ethnic tensions, and fuels violence and political instability, she
added.
Bachelet
lamented that those sounding the alarm over the devastating impacts of climate
change are often attacked.
UN experts,
she said, had “noted attacks on environmental human rights defenders in
virtually every region, particularly in Latin America”.
“I am
disheartened by this violence, and also by the verbal attacks on young
activists such as Greta Thunberg and others, who galvanise support for
prevention of the harm their generation may bear,” Bachelet said.
“The
demands made by environmental defenders and activists are compelling, and we
should respect, protect and fulfil their rights.”
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