Climate change and human rights practice: Observations on and around the Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Relationship between Climate Change and Human Rights

Climate change has become a prominent issue in world affairs, but is yet to be taken on board by the human rights community. While on the one hand it is clear that climate change will have adverse effects on the enjoyment of human rights, it is less clear whether human rights organizations are best-placed to campaign against it and whether the incorporation of climate change into the mandates of human rights organizations would be a wise and effective move. Taking as its main point of reference the recent report on the relationship between climate change and human rights by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, thus far the most authoritative publication on this question, this note addresses some of the main challenges in approaching climate change as a human rights issue in general, as well as some of the more specific challenges arising from a human rights practice perspective.