NIHR Participates in the Conference of the Parties on Climate (COP 22)
The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR), represented by |Head the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Mr. Fareed Ghazi, participated in the Conference of the Parties on Climate (COP 22), which was organized by the National Council for Human Rights in Morocco in partnership with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) under EU support, in order to highlight the role of national human rights institutions in the implementation of Sustainable Development Plan 2030 on climate change.
In his speech, Mr. Fareed Ghazi emphasized the importance of discussing the legal actions to be taken in case of violation of the right to environment and climate, especially as the Paris Convention on Climate missed the actions that could be taken in case of violation of the right to climate and lacked any reference to the responsibility of governments and private sector companies in case of violation of the right to climate, unlike the other rights defined in international human rights conventions preserved by the international courts generally accepted to protect human rights. This constitutes a great and new challenge to the human rights institutions and casts a big burden on civil society institutions. He added, “The Paris convention on climate and discussion of such rights by national institutions around the world, which are new in the human rights field, will expand the powers of the Human Rights Council in Geneva to discuss violations of the right to climate and their impact on human-being, the matt
er which requires accreditation of more bodies and associations that represent the relevant civil society”.
It is worth mentioning that this Conference is held after the historic adoption of the first global agreement on climate in the COP 21 in Paris and aims at diagnosing risks that threaten the environment, listing various initiatives and programs in the field of environment protection and adaptation to climate change and formulating suggestions and recommendations to shape the outlines of a regional integrated action plan in this field.
