The Human Rights Council side event emphasized the close linkages between climate change and human rights and aimed at raising visibility for the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights in the context of its mandate renewal, providing a platform to reflect on the findings of the Rapporteur’s first thematic report and discuss follow-up actions. HRC side event © EU Geneva On Thursday, 19 September 2024, the side event at the 57th Session of the Human Rights Council entitled “The Importance of Interconnectedness Between Human Rights and Combatting Climate Change” organised and co-sponsored by Fiji, the Bahamas, Panama, Paraguay, Sudan, the Marshall Islands, and the EU, brought together experts and stakeholders to emphasise how the global climate crisis impacts human rights, particularly for vulnerable communities, and how a human rights approach helps mitigating these impacts and support climate action. The event featured a distinguished panel of speakers, moderated by Ambassador Doreen De Brum of the Marshall Islands. Among the speakers were Prof. Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights, Ms. Francesca Mingrone, from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Mr. Vance Culbert, from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and Ambassador Ignacio Ybáñez, the EU Special Envoy for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Climate Action and Human Rights Ambassador De Brum opened the discussion by highlighting the urgency of addressing climate change through a human rights lens. She called for solidarity with vulnerable States like the Marshall Islands, where rising sea levels and extreme weather events disproportionately impact local populations. Ambassador Ignacio Ybáñez emphasized the critical role of the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights in supporting global climate action by framing it through a human rights perspective. He underscored the EU’s ongoing commitment to promoting the rights […]