July 2022 UN declares human right to breathe clean air
October 6th, 2022
For the first time in its history, the United Nations (UN) has recognized that everyone, everywhere, has the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Resolutions from the Human Rights Council in 2021 (A/HRC/RES/48/13) and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2022 (A/RES/76/300) add this fundamental human right to the library of internationally recognized rights.
The UNGA adopted the resolution on 28 July 2022, by a recorded vote of 161 in favor and zero against. Eight Member States – Belarus, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, and Syria – abstained.
Describing the resolution as “a victory for people and planet,” UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Inger Andersen said full implementation of the right will “empower[] action on the triple planetary crisis, provid[e] a more predictable and consistent global regulatory environment for businesses, and protect[] those who defend nature.”
As per Andersen, the resolution “was five decades in the making.” From a “foothold” in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, where Member States recognized the right to “an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being,” she said countries have integrated the right into constitutions, national laws, and regional agreements, and in 2021, the UN Human Rights Council elevated its status to that of “universal recognition.”
We wish to acknowledge the work of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David Boyd, who presented an exceptionally good report to the General Assembly in 2019 on the right to breathe clean air, which concluded “Air pollution is a preventable problem. The solutions − laws, standards, policies, programmes, investments and technologies − are known. Implementing these solutions will of course entail large investments, but the benefits of fulfilling the right to breathe clean air for all of humanity are incalculable”.
HOORAY!
The General Assembly adopts a resolution on “the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” (A/76/L.75). The resolution was adopted with 161 votes in favor, 0 against and 8 abstentions.
[Source: UNEP]