IFEX’s submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasises the need to improve the safety and protection of environmental defenders and journalists, while centring communities most vulnerable to climate change, for a fair, inclusive, and equitable transition to a sustainable economy.
“As States continue to pursue environmentally destructive economic policies and activities, environmental defenders and journalists are essential for shining a light on the resulting harms, abuses, and disproportionate impacts — especially on vulnerable and marginalised communities.”
IFEX has submitted a response to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in response to the call for inputs to inform a report by the Secretary-General on “opportunities, best practices, actionable solutions, challenges and barriers relevant to a just transition and the full realization of human rights for all people”. The final report will be presented by the UN Secretary General at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council.
The transition to a net-zero, low-carbon, and sustainable economy is imperative, but must not come at the expense of people. The concept of just transition originated amid trade unions and the labour movement to protect workers’ rights in environmentally hazardous industries. It has since evolved with a broader aim to shift from a fossil fuel-dominant, extractive, and labour-intensive economy to a sustainable economy.
Our submission draws on IFEX members’ expertise to illustrate how the rights to freedom of expression and access to information are core to just transition, emphasising that the process must be fair, equitable, inclusive, and based in human rights. It highlights how ongoing efforts to silence environmental defenders and journalists through harassment, intimidation, attacks, and killings with impunity contributes to environmental degradation and is antithetical to just transition.
The submission includes recommendations urging States to uphold their international human rights obligations by protecting and promoting the rights of environmental defenders and journalists, including holding companies accountable for violations perpetrated against them. We also call for States to guarantee the necessary participation of environmental defenders, journalists and other stakeholders, particularly those from vulnerable and affected communities, in policy and decision-making processes that will facilitate a rights-based and inclusive transition to a sustainable economy.
You can read IFEX’s submission below.
