Bundespräsident in Genf: »Everyone, everywhere, has the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment«

Excellencies,

Distinguished panelists and guests!

Last year in July the General Assembly adopted a groundbreaking resolution that would have been unthinkable 75 years ago. Because back then the disastrous consequences of the climate crisis and its consequences for human rights were not yet anchored in people's minds. This resolution recognized that everyone, everywhere, has the right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

Yes, here in Geneva for example or in Vienna where I come from, health issues due to intense heatwaves or access to water might not be as big of an issue as they are in parts of the Global South. But - even if some would like to think so - that doesn't mean this concerns us any less. On the contrary, the consequences of the climate crisis will eventually affect all of us.

The interlinkages between human rights and our triple planetary crises of global warming, biodiversity loss and pollution are not linear and yet so obvious.

We all have the right to life and to live in freedom and security.

However, severe extreme weather events, which are increasing in scale, frequency and intensity, threaten the safety of billions of people on our planet. Wildfires ravage communities and rising sea levels threaten entire nations, just to name a few.

Another fundamental right of every human being is the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health.

However, the climate emergency increases the risk of injury, illness and death from intense heatwaves, for instance. And in some regions of the world, children are exposed to an increased risk of malnutrition as a result of reduced food production.

Access to safe, affordable and reliable drinking water is also a basic human right.

Already now, way too many people have no access to clean water. And the climate crisis will make it even worse. Already now, children are the ones who are the most affected by the consequences of the climate emergency. Be it air pollution, malnutrition or lack of drinking water.

I am 79 years old. Me and most other politicians won't have to live through the worst consequences of the climate crisis. It is the children's future that is at stake.

So young people all over the world urge governments to implement ambitious climate policies. What they are calling for is a planet that remains habitable. a planet with enough nutrition to grant everyone's right to food. A planet where pollution does not endanger the fundamental right to health. That shouldn't be too much to ask for!

Still most of them believe that their concerns with regard to the climate crisis are not taken seriously by politicians. According to a survey conducted in Austria that is true for 75% of people below the age of 30.[1] Young people all over the world feel the same frustration.

Danke @UNHumanRights@volker_turk für die Einladung nach Genf! #HumanRights75
Das Jubiläum ist auch ein Anlass, sich zu besinnen: Was haben wir bisher erreicht? Woran sind wir gescheitert? Was sind die Herausforderungen für die Einhaltung der Menschenrechte in der Zukunft? (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Z2XdlMpSUr

- A. Van der Bellen (@vanderbellen) December 11, 2023

Dear colleagues, we must hear their call, we must take them seriously. Because they are right: The climate crisis is, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it, "an existential threat to us all".

It is our duty to phase out burning of fossil fuels and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is our duty to take the necessary measures to adapt to the foreseeable consequences of the climate emergency. It is our duty to hold polluters to account. This should have started decades ago when we began to notice that the climate crisis is a consequence of the greatest market failure of all time. And as members of the international community, it is our duty to show solidarity and to support those most vulnerable to climate risks.

Our shared responsibility for future generations must inform our decisions and actions today.

The choices we make today at the COP28 in Dubai and in the coming years will determine the world that our children and grandchildren will inherit.

In our pursuit to protect human rights and the climate, we must also recognize the indispensable role of civil society organizations. They are the ones who hold us accountable to implement what we have agreed to on paper.

And they sometimes do so at great personal risk: of being attacked or in some cases even killed. It is our responsibility to protect and promote their right to participation, to freedom of expression, to peaceful assembly and association.

This summer, when we celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, I met a group of young human rights defenders. Francisco Vera, who is a panelist here today, was one of them. I was truly impressed and full of admiration for their work, for their courage, their commitment and ultimately for their vision for a better, more just and equal world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

the challenges before us are significant. And the decisions we take or fail to take today will shape the world we pass on to future generations.

We must ensure that the commitments we make today are not only upheld but strengthened over time, laying the foundation for a future in which human rights and environmental sustainability thrive together and strengthen each other.

When our successors gather again here in Geneva for the 100th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2048, they should look back with pride at the progress we have made.

Thank you for your attention! I very much look forward to the discussion ahead.

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