Human Rights and Climate Change

A/HRC/RES/38/4View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

16 versions · 2008–2026

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/62/14

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/HRC/RES/62/14	Human rights and climate change	4,295	37%Compare
2025	A/HRC/RES/59/25	Human rights and climate change	5,334	65%Compare
2024	A/HRC/RES/56/8	Human rights and climate change	4,379	68%Compare
2023	A/HRC/RES/53/6	Human rights and climate change	3,721	45%Compare
2022	A/HRC/RES/50/9	Human rights and climate change	3,746	60%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

4 reports · 2022–2025

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2025	A/HRC/60/52	Synthesis report on opportunities, best practices, actionable solutions, challenges and barriers relevant to just transition and the full realization of human rights for all people report of the Secretary-General	A/HRC/RES/56/8
2024	A/HRC/57/30	Analytical study on the impact of loss and damage from the adverse effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, exploring equity-based approaches and solutions to addressing the same report of the Secretary-General	A/HRC/RES/53/6
2023	A/HRC/53/47	Adverse impact of climate change on the full realization of the right to food report of the Secretary-General	A/HRC/RES/50/9
2022	A/HRC/50/57	The impacts of climate change on the human rights of people in vulnerable situations report of the Secretary-General	A/HRC/RES/47/24

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Capacity Building Climate Change Conferences Financing Gender Mainstreaming Human Rights Report Preparation Women's Rights

What’s in this document?

14 operative paragraphs

Expresses concern that climate change has contributed and continues to contribute to the increased frequency and intensity of both sudden-onset natural disasters and slow-onset events, and that these events have adverse effects on the full enjoyment of all human rights;

Emphasizes the urgent importance of continuing to address, as they relate to States’ human rights obligations, the adverse consequences of climate change for all, particularly in developing countries and for the people whose situation is most vulnerable to climate change;

Calls upon States to consider, among other aspects, human rights within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

Calls upon all States to adopt a comprehensive, integrated and gender-responsive approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation policies, consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the objective and principles thereof, to address efficiently the economic, cultural and social impacts and challenges that climate change represents, for the full and effective enjoyment of human rights for all, particularly to support the resilience and adaptive capacities of women and girls both in rural and urban areas to respond to the adverse impacts of climate change;

Calls upon States to continue and enhance international cooperation and assistance, in particular in financing, the transfer of technology and capacity-building, for mitigation and adaptation measures to assist developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, to better promote human rights in general and women’s access in particular to food and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, health-care services and medicines, education and training, adequate housing and decent work, clean energy, science and technology;

Urges States to strengthen and implement policies aimed at increasing the participation of women in climate change responses at the local, national, regional and international levels, and calls upon the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and other United Nations agencies to support upon request national programmes and projects in this regard;

Decides to incorporate into the programme of work for the forty-first session of the Human Rights Council, on the basis of the different elements contained in the present resolution, a panel discussion on the theme “Women’s rights and climate change: climate action, best practices and lessons learned”, focusing on best practices and lessons learned in the promotion and protection of the rights of women and girls in the context of the adverse impacts of climate change;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a summary report of the panel discussion to the Human Rights Council at its forty-second session;

Also requests the Office of the High Commissioner, in consultation with and taking into account the views of States, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Meteorological Organization and other relevant international organizations and intergovernmental bodies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and other stakeholders, to conduct, from within existing resources, an analytical study on the integration of a gender-responsive approach into climate action at the local, national, regional and international levels for the full and effective enjoyment of the rights of women, to be circulated to States and other stakeholders and to be submitted to the Council in sufficient time but no later than 30 days prior to the forty-first session;

Invites special procedure mandate holders, within their respective mandates, and other relevant stakeholders with appropriate expertise, including academic experts and civil society organizations, to contribute actively to the panel discussion;

Encourages relevant special procedure mandate holders to continue to consider the issue of climate change and human rights, including the adverse impacts of climate change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, particularly women’s rights, within their respective mandates;

Decides to consider the possibility of organizing follow-up events on climate change and human rights;

Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide all the human and technical assistance necessary for the effective and timely realization of the above-mentioned panel discussion and the summary report thereon;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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