Human Rights and Climate Change

A/HRC/RES/41/21View 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 2019.

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?

7 subjects

Capacity Building Climate Change Conferences Financing Human Rights Persons with Disabilities Report Preparation

What’s in this document?

15 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;

Encourages the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to support the Secretary-General in the preparation of the climate action summit and through its follow-up arrangements, in coordination with other relevant international organizations, agencies, convention secretariats and programmes;

Calls upon all States to adopt a comprehensive, integrated, gender-responsive and disability-inclusive 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 impact and challenges that climate change represents, for the full and effective enjoyment of human rights for all, and particularly to support the resilience and adaptive capacities of persons with disabilities 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 the access of persons with disabilities in particular to livelihoods, 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 persons with disabilities in climate change responses at the local, national, regional and international levels, and calls upon the United Nations Partnership to Promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 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-fourth session of the Human Rights Council, on the basis of the different elements contained in the present resolution, a panel discussion on the theme “Promoting and protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change”, focusing on best practices and lessons learned in the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of the adverse impact of climate change, and also decides that the panel discussion will have international sign interpretation and captioning;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to submit a summary report on the panel discussion to the Human Rights Council at its forty-sixth session, and to make the report available in accessible formats, including Plain Language and Easy-to-Read;

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, including the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility, the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Inter-Agency Support Group for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 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, including organizations of persons with disabilities, to conduct, from within existing resources, an analytical study on the promotion and the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change, to be circulated to States and other stakeholders and to be submitted to the Human Rights Council prior to its forty-fourth session, and further requests the Office to make the study available in accessible formats, including Plain Language and Easy-to-Read;

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 impact of climate change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, particularly rights of persons with disabilities, 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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