In 2009, Russian tax accountant Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison after investigating a $230 million tax fraud involving Russian officials. A subsequent investigation into his case by the Kremlin’s own human rights commission, ordered and endorsed (in July 2011) by the-then Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, found that in order to silence Magnitsky, corrupt officials had accused him of …
Earlier this month, on World Environment Day, the Executive Director of UN Environment, Erik Solheim, and I jointly stated that the historic moment has arrived for the United Nations to recognise the human right to a healthy environment at the global level. The fundamental UN human rights treaties do not include this right because the modern environmental movement began in the late 1960s, …
On 1 May this year, MPs from across the major UK political parties, agreed in the UK Parliament to support a ‘Magnitsky’ amendment to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill. The amendment was adopted without a vote and was described by the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, as “an important moment” that would “allow the UK to act against those responsible …
Note: This article is based on a Joint Statement by UN Environment and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment ahead of World Environment Day. Speaking ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June, the head of UN Environment, Mr Erik Solheim, and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, Mr John Knox, issued a …
L’interdépendance entre le changement climatique et les droits de l’homme est désormais établie. L’idée que le premier engendre des violations de ces derniers, et qu’à l’inverse, les droits humains peuvent renforcer l’élaboration des politiques internationales sur le climat (notamment en portant une plus grande attention sur les besoins des plus vulnérables) est désormais communément acceptée. Pourtant, cela n’a pas toujours …
Cet article est également disponible en français . The idea that climate change undermines and may contribute to the violation of human rights, and that human rights obligations and principles can guide improved international and national climate change policy by focusing attention on the needs of the most vulnerable, is now well established. Yet it was not always so. Back in …
An independent analysis of the High Level Segment of the Human Rights Council At the opening of the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, nearly one hundred world leaders (e.g. presidents, prime ministers, ministers) delivered high level speeches commenting on the state of global human rights in 2018, and presenting their country’s priorities for the year ahead. The Universal Rights …
Global recognition of the right to a healthy environment is long overdue. There are opportunities emerging to do so, and this would give crucial support to threatened environmental activists. In March 2016, armed intruders battered down the door of the house where Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres, 44, was staying and killed her. By then, Cáceres, co-founder of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, …
Currently, Latin America is the most deadly region in the world to be an environmental defender. IUCN NL and other partners recently held a meeting in Bogota, Colombia, centered on improving the safety of these defenders. Attendee and IUCN NL Environmental Justice Expert, Liliana Jauregui, learnt that we need to take action on three levels; Protection mechanisms on the ground, sharing …
En el Día Mundial Contra la Lepra, las organizaciones de todo el mundo deben unirse para crear conciencia y trabajar en pro de la consecución de objetivos concretos para poner fin a la discriminación contra la lepra. Elton (alias) nació en 1980 en Río de Janeiro en un favela. Sin acceso a la educación o al mercado laboral formal, Elton tuvo que …
