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impacts are stories of human rights harms.
The brave Filipino men and women who have given their testimony before this
Commission are unfortunately not the only one who have experienced the worst face
of climate change. Within the last weeks alone, I have personally witnessed how
families in Puerto Rico were left living under tarpaulins for over a year after
hurricane Maria, to name only one example.
However, what is clear from both the stories of the petitioners and the dozens of
accounts that I have listened to in other parts of the world, is that there are plenty of
people out there not only willing to tell the stories of their suffering, but also eager
to achieve justice for what has happened to them and on behalf of all the others who
could not be heard. They rightfully see themselves as rights-holders and demand
accountability to those with key obligations and responsibilities.
Human rights obligations and responsibilities related to climate change
Climate change is a human rights issue not only because its devastating impacts
affect the enjoyment of human rights, but also because it is a man-made phenomenon
which can be mitigated. The solutions to climate change have been known for
decades now. If people in the Philippines and all around the world continue to
experience unbearable losses because of climate change, it is because those with the
obligation and responsibility to act have done nothing or far too little.
The primary obligation to protect people from human rights harms lies with
states. The fact that the adverse effects of climate change clearly harm the enjoyment
of a wide range of human rights of many people over a very long time give rise to
duties of states to address the causes of climate change. States therefore have the
obligation to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change by taking all reasonable
steps to the full extent of their abilities to prevent or reduce greenhouse emissions
within the shortest possible time-frame both nationally and through international
cooperation. States must also adopt all necessary measures to assist those within
their jurisdiction to adapt to the foreseeable and unavoidable effects of climate
change, thus minimizing the impact of climate change on their human rights. This is
true regardless of whether the state is responsible for those effects because states
have an obligation to protect human rights from harms caused by third parties.
Businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights as clearly outlined by
the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). To
meet this responsibility, companies must assess the potential impact of their
activities on human rights, and put in place measures to prevent negative impacts.
They must make such findings and any prevention measures public. The UNGPs
also require businesses to take measures to remedy human rights abuses they cause
or to which they contribute, either by themselves or in cooperation with other actors.
Such responsibilities extend to human rights harms resulting from climate change.
In particular, corporations should implement due diligence processes to assess the
climate change-related human rights impacts of their products and activities and put
measures in place to minimise greenhouse emissions, including in their activities
abroad, and make relevant information about their emissions and mitigation efforts