A/HRC/30/22
which calls for meaningful collaboration between national representatives in human rights
and climate change processes to inform climate action.
21.
OHCHR organized a full-day discussion on human rights and climate change on 6
March 2015, during the twenty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council. Panellists
included the President of Kiribati, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, the Foreign Ministers of
Bangladesh and the Philippines and the President of the Mary Robinson Foundation –
Climate Justice, among other distinguished speakers. The discussions revealed a broad
consensus that climate change has profound impacts on human rights, and is one of the
greatest moral challenges facing humanity. Both panellists and participants called for
urgent, collective and concrete action. Many panellists agreed that such action must be
driven by a new vision for sustainable development, taking due account of climate
vulnerabilities and injustices. Discussants emphasized the need for a rights-based approach,
including application of the right to development, to ensure climate change prevention,
adaptation and mitigation and international cooperation to support national efforts for
transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient development that leaves no one behind. It was
emphasized that people in small island developing States face existential threats to survival,
and international solidarity is critical, including for migration with dignity. Participants
called for concerted measures to integrate human rights in climate change negotiations and
for sharing of knowledge and best practices across the human rights and climate change
communities.
22.
OHCHR supported the eighth annual human rights film festival which took place
from 7 to 11 October 2014 in Kyrgyzstan. The theme of the festival was the right to
development. The festival inspired debate and raised civic awareness in Kyrgyzstan. Over
the course of the week, citizens had the opportunity to see how communities from other
parts of the world have dealt with and solved many of the problems that the country faces
today on its path to development. The discussions and round-table events hosted along with
the films provided a public space for citizens to collaborate on how these problems must be
confronted within the local political and civic environment. In partnership with the nongovernmental organization Bir Duino, OHCHR contributed to the event by providing
financial assistance for website design and interpretation at panel discussions, delivering
several opening and closing statements at different stages throughout the festival and
providing print and video materials for use during panel discussions.
23.
In Madagascar, OHCHR has promoted the integration of human rights into laws
regulating the exploitation of natural resources and is assisting with efforts aimed at
developing a human rights-compliant social corporate responsibility policy, as well as
facilitating dialogue between mining and petroleum companies, communities and the State.
24.
In 2015, OHCHR developed and posted on its website a chronology of major
developments before and after the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Right
to Development.8 This initiative contributed to advancing knowledge and understanding of
the right to development in the broader context.
C.
Inter-agency cooperation and mainstreaming the right to development
25.
Mainstreaming human rights, including the right to development, into United
Nations policies, operational activities, guidelines and tools on development programming
is an integral part of the High Commissioner’s mandate and a major pillar of the
8
6
Available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/Pages/
Landmarksintherecognitiondevelopmentasahumanright.aspx.
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