Joint Statement by UN human rights experts for World Environment Day
Recognition of the right to a healthy environment key to address the environmental crisis and protect human rights
GENEVA (4 June 2020) – On the eve of World Environment Day, a group of more than fifty United Nations experts called on States to take urgent and timely action to recognize and implement the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a vital response to the current multi-faceted environmental crisis.
The world is currently facing a climate emergency, pervasive toxic pollution, dramatic loss of biodiversity, and a surge in emerging infectious diseases of zoonotic origin, such as COVID-19. The environmental crisis has negative impacts on a wide range of human rights including the rights to life, health, water, sanitation, food, decent work, development, education, peaceful assembly and cultural rights, as well as the right to live in a healthy environment.