Addressing the High Level Conference “Environmental Protection and Human Rights”, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe called on member states to support the recognition of the right to a healthy environment at the UN.
The Commissioner expressed satisfaction in seeing the awareness of the extent to which human rights and the environment are intertwined is rapidly growing, and concluded the speech (i) emphasizing that rights such as access to information and decision-making are the primary tools that empower citizens and defenders to protect the environment we live in; (ii) encouraging all Council of Europe member states to show their vocal support for the explicit recognition, at the United Nations level, of the right to a healthy environment; (iii) shifting the attention towards children and young people, as they are the ones who will bear the brunt of the damage if we fail to act.
