Republic of the Philippines Commission on Human Rights
CHR-NI-2016-0001 In Re: National inquiry on the impact of climate change on
the human rights of the Filipino People
Statement of Resource Person, Laura Gyte
I.
Preliminary Matters
1. My name is Laura Gyte. I qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in
2005, and have since worked for both civil society organisations and
Governments on climate and environmental law, and constitutional and
administrative law. A copy of my CV is attached.
2. Since 2015 I have been employed by Oxfam as Senior Legal Adviser,
Campaigns. My role includes advising Oxfam on climate law and liability.
3. Oxfam is a confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations focusing
on the alleviation of global poverty. Oxfam has been operating in the
Philippines for 30 years working on addressing economic and gender
inequalities, the causes of conflicts, and in saving lives during emergencies.
4. Oxfam responded with aid in the immediate aftermath of Haiyan. We worked
in securing access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), in provisioning
emergency food and livelihoods, and ensuring that gender and protection are
addressed in the emergency response. Our response is Oxfam’s biggest
humanitarian response in the Philippines to date reaching more than 800,000
people in Ormoc City, Tacloban City, Leyte, Eastern Samar and Cebu with
emergency and long-term support.
5. In making this statement I refer to work by my colleagues in Oxfam in the
Philippines, and our climate, energy and private sector policy advisers.
6. The petitioners have invited me to give evidence as a resource person on the
subject of Oxfam’s work on just energy transition and requirements that can
be made of corporates to ensure they act responsibly in relation to the climate
risks and impacts of their business.
7. Oxfam believes the Commission’s work in this inquiry is of fundamental
importance to people living with the human rights impacts of climate change,
in the Philippines and beyond, and I am honoured to appear at the public
hearing on 11 December 2018.
II.
Substantive Matters
8. In this section I will address the aspects requested by the petitioners as
relevant to the Commission’s consideration at this stage of the Inquiry.