The University of Stirling, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI), and the Global Network for Human Rights and Environment are pleased to invite you to participate on the online seminar:
“Recognising the Right to a Healthy Environment (R2HE): Actor Constellations, Processes and What’s next”
In July 2022, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution recognising the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Universally recognising that every human being has access to a healthy environment is a significant step to protect human well-being in times of planetary crisis, climatic challenges and biodiversity depletion. This landmark decision opens new avenues for governments and civil society groups working at the grassroots, national and global levels to shape environmental law and policy in the future.
Behind this recognition stands a decades-long advocacy process involving a wide range of actors, including civil society organizations, UN special mandate holders, a core group of governments and business representatives. After the adoption of the Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment (2018), the Right to a Healthy Environment (R2HE) Coalition played a crucial role in advocating for the recognition of the new human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
In this webinar, we will reflect on this advocacy process leading to the adoption of the UNGA resolution: How was the R2HE coalition initiated? Which key strategies did the coalition rely on? What were the challenges and contentious issues within the coalition? How did civil society actors from the Global South perceive collaboration with partners from the Global North? What are the next steps after the R2HE has been recognised by the UN General Assembly? What leverage points can be used for transforming the UNGA recognition to safeguard biodiversity and healthy ecosystems that underpin the realisation of the R2HE?
Webinar date: 20 September 2022
Time: 3.00 pm Lund, 3.00 pm Geneva, 8.00 pm Jakarta, 8.00 am Bogotá, 9.00 am New York, 4.00pm Nairobi (90 minutes)
Moderators: Andrea Schapper (University of Stirling) & Claudia Ituarte-Lima (Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law )
Welcome
Part 1: Recognizing the R2HE: Process and Actor Constellations (moderated by Andrea Schapper)
- Chiara Liguori, Amnesty International
- Kristen Cordero, Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative
- Benjamin Schachter, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Part 2: Challenges, Reflections and Way Forward (moderated by Claudia Ituarte-Lima)
- Astrid Puentes, Independent consultant on human rights, climate and the environment.
- Robert Kibugi, University of Nairobi
- Tuti Alawiyah, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
- Soo-Young Hwang, United Nations Environment Programme
Followed by:
- Questions & Answers
- Input from Audience/Other Participants
- Reflections and Discussion
- Synthesis
