CLIMATE JUSTICE IS A HUMAN RIGHT!
- Guest
- Jan 6
- 3 min read
Environmentalists stand in solidarity with the mass mobilization of multisectoral progressive groups in celebration of the International Human Rights Day in order to echo their calls for the welfare of the environment. They emphasize that climate justice is not just an ambition that the international community must work towards but a human right that must be upheld by its member states.
International policy from various intergovernmental organizations have recognized climate justice as a human right. In fact, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has characterized the phenomenon as an overarching phenomenon that has threatened life and the effective enjoyment of a range of human rights.
It reiterated the obligations of member states in ensuring that it sticks to its agreed upon commitments that were solidified in the numerous multilateral agreements that targeted the reduction of climate emissions. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has defined climate justice as placing a primacy on equity and human rights at the core of policy-making decisions.
This entails recognizing the various inequalities that threaten its achievement and the conditions that persistently aggravate the vulnerability of the citizenry to its sordid effects. The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) has echoed the calls of other intergovernmental organizations but adds that a human rights-based approach must work towards the achievement of a zero-carbon economy in a just and equitable transition.
However, the Climate Action Network International (CANI) has recognized that the increased urgency of climate change has brought a proportional increase in civil society unrest. They stated that such unrest has been met with repression from the ruling governments of member-states with such draconic measures targeting human rights defenders, journalists, and academics.
Ever since the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement over 1,500 climate and human rights defenders have been murdered. In conjunction, an updated report by the Global Witness brings the overall tally of human rights violations to 2,253 from 2012 to 2024. Particularly in 2023, a global tally of 196 was recorded of environmental and human-rights defenders being killed and forcibly disappeared. 17 were reported in the Philippines, marking the highest toll in Asia.
CIVICUS Global Alliance notes that such rise in repression marks a shift in the tactics of the biggest polluters globally who have escalated efforts to muzzle dissent. Their 13th annual State of Civil Society shows that clamping down became a globalized phenomenon in 2023 with cases of repression rising across the globe.
More worrying is how repression is centralized in industrialized countries with the highest percentage of emissions. UNICEF reports that the youth is at the forefront of the global campaign in achieving climate justice.Despite the global recognition of the role of the youth, the Philippines maintains the status as one of the most dangerous nations for environmentalists.
The Philippine government maintains tone-deaf to the most pressing climate issues of our nation. A gap exists between those that forward genuine climate solutions and the institutions that prioritize false mitigation. Despite claiming to be a climate advocate, President Marcos Jr. has enabled the profit-mongering behavior of our closest allies who constitute a significant percentage of the global emissions.
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment spokesperson Jonila Castro emphasized that bureaucrat capitalism that runs deep within the roots of our ruling system has bred and proliferated corruption that is the main culprit for the lives lost during natural disasters.
“Kaya dapat sila singilin at panagutin. Wala ng silbi ang anumang makinarya ng panunupil ang itayo at paglaanan ng pondo para pigilan ang galit ng mamamayang Pilipino at takutin tayo manawagan ng hustisya at pagbabago. Wala ng lugar ang takot sa mamamayang mulat sa kabulukan ng sistema at ng mga ugat nito. Patuloy lamang na lalawak ang mamamayang maniningil sa bawat pisong linustay ng mga gahaman, sa bawat likas yaman na dinambong, at sa bawat buhay na ninakaw,” says Castro.
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