CHR-NI-2016-0001 Statement of Resource Person, Katherine Lofts Climate change also acts as a “threat multiplier” with respect to its impact on human rights, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and reinforcing social inequalities. The consequences of climate change will disproportionately affect those individuals and communities who already face disparate access to healthcare, education, water, food, housing, and transportation, including women, children, older persons, Indigenous peoples, minorities, migrants, rural workers, persons with disabilities, the poor, and those living in at risk areas.10 Climate change impacts will also make it more difficult for governments to meet their existing human rights obligations, adding additional stress to infrastructure and the provision of government services, and requiring tremendous financial and human resources to address.11 II. Human rights obligations of States and corporate actors All States have an obligation to address the human rights implications of environmental harms, including the human rights implications of climate change.12 States’ obligations in this regard entail three types of duty: • The duty to respect human rights – a negative obligation requiring states to refrain from taking actions that would interfere with or curtail the enjoyment of human rights. • The duty to protect human rights against violations by third parties (including corporate actors). • The duty to fulfil human rights, a positive obligation, which requires states to undertake measures to ensure the realization of rights for all members of society.13 These duties apply equally to all categories of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights; while there may be some scope within international human rights law for differences in the implementation or prioritization of certain human rights standards, these differences have no bearing on the legal question of whether States must comply with their human rights obligations. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), States have immediate obligations to take steps towards the full realization of rights (also known as “progressive realization”)14; to ensure a minimum adherence to each right15; and to guarantee the exercise of rights without any kind of discrimination. 16 States also 10 OHCHR, Discussion Paper: The Rights of Those Disproportionately Impacted by Climate Change (30 September 2016), online: <https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/EM2016/DisproportionateImpacts.pdf> at 1 [OHCHR Discussion Paper]. 11 Report of the OHCHR on the Relationship between Climate Change and Human Rights, supra note 6 at 75. See also: Human Rights Watch (HRW), “There Is No Time Left”: Climate Change, Environmental Threats, and Human Rights in Turkana County, Kenya (HRW, 2015) at 42. 12 A/HRC/31/52, supra note 6 at para 65; A/HRC/25/53, supra note 6 at paras 44-57. For example, the Paris Agreement acknowledges that, whenever States take action to address climate change, they should “respect, protect and consider their respective obligations on human rights” (Paris Agreement, supra note 6 at Preamble). 13 UNEP, Climate Change and Human Rights (Nairobi: UNEP, 2015) at 15 [UNEP]. 14 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No 3, UN Doc E/1991/23 (14 December 1990) at para 2. 15 Ibid, at para 10. 16 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), 16 December 1966, 993 UNTS 3 at Art 2(2) [ICESCR]. 3