Dr. Arvind Kumar*
2023 mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR). The Human Rights Council is known as the most open and accessible body in the entire UN structure. This is precisely as it should be given that every human being is entitled to human rights under international law and deserves a chance to be heard. With the Council meeting three times a year in regular session, plus universal periodic review (UPR) and special sessions, side events, expert panels and a regular call for submissions from nongovernmental organizations, civil society has a special year-round place in the Council’s activities. Special rapporteurs routinely reach out to civil society activists and experts on their country missions, a key ingredient for ensuring their work is relevant to human rights defenders on the ground. UPR is also opening new doors for human rights activists to make their case directly to government officials for reforms that meet international standards and establishing systematic follow-up reviews.
The 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council (11 Sep – 13 Oct) will consider issues including reprisals, arbitrary detention, systemic racism, enforced disappearances, water and sanitation, and the rights of indigenous peoples and people of African descent. It will also present an opportunity to address grave situations in over a dozen States.
The discussions will range from civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and issues through dedicated debates on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Right to Development, contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Arbitrary Detention, promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination, the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, economic, social and cultural rights, and COVID-19 recovery, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, drivers, root causes and human rights impacts of religious hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, human rights by older persons and many more.
IWF at 54th session of UNHRC
Biodiversity loss, species extinction, climate change and the general degradation of the world’s ecosystems have a profound global impact on the enjoyment of human rights. Addressing the challenges, they pose to the protection of human rights is imperative especially as their impact will continue to grow in the years to come. Highlighting the same out of 93 side events from all around the world India Water Foundation is also organizing a side event at the 54th session. The only side event from India. The session title is ‘Safeguarding human right to Water and Sanitation in India amidst Climate emergency’ and would analyse the policies and programmes in India related to the human right to Water and Sanitation especially in the context of the climate emergency the world is grappling with. Since climate change affects everything from where a person can live to their access to health care, millions of people could be plunged further into poverty as environmental conditions worsen.
Water and sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights, reflecting the fundamental nature of these basics in every person’s life. Water access, lack, and related activities are found to have an important gender dimension, with women and girls collectively spending 200 million hours collecting water, which affects their education and working lives as well as their health and safety. Climate change is an existential threat for people and the planet. Its harmful effects undermine the full enjoyment and realization of all human rights, disproportionately affecting those who are already in vulnerable situations.
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 mean 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.
*Editor, Focus Global Reporter
