The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reaffirmed its commitment to place human rights at the heart of its work at a high-level event in Geneva today to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“No one person, community or nation should put themselves above another,” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said. “Humanity’s future depends on pulling together, not apart, to overcome the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss and the crisis of pollution and waste. So, we at UNEP are recommitting to placing human rights at the heart of our work.”
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) enshrined the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all in 2022, recognizing that the climate crisis and environmental degradation are among the biggest threats to humanity’s well-being. In 1948, the UNGA proclaimed for the first time a set of fundamental human rights to be universally protected, which has paved the way for the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties.
