Human rights advocates used the resolution to help pressure the Mexican government to reform its constitution and adopt a human right to water in 2012. Diarrheal disease, largely from unsafe drinking water, kills half a million children under age 5 every year. The resolution, adopted in 2010, recognizes that access to adequate quantities of clean drinking water and sanitation are necessary to realize all other rights. resolutions have been used to shape state policy. The human right to water is one of the strongest examples of how U.N. Voluntary human rights declarations can also be instrumental in changing state policy and providing people with new political tools to demand better conditions. The resolution on the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment was approved without dissent, though eight countries abstained: Belarus, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Syria. The 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming is a direct and legally binding outcome of the long struggles that follow initial declarations. has been discussing the environment as a global concern for over 50 years, and several international treaties over that time have addressed specific environmental concerns, including binding agreements on protecting biodiversity and closing the ozone hole. to declare a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. That is why advocates argued for the U.N. These threats can undermine the right to life, dignity, and health, as can air pollution, contaminated water, and pollution from plastics and chemicals. Some experts argue that the “ triple planetary crisis” of human-driven climate change, widespread biodiversity loss, and unmitigated pollution now threaten to surpass the planetary boundaries necessary to live safely on Earth. The world has changed dramatically since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written, perhaps most notably with regard to the scale of environmental crises people worldwide face.

Eleanor Roosevelt and others read from the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, the International Bill of Human Rights also includes binding agreements on economic, cultural, civil, and political rights. conventions against torture (1984) and racial discrimination (1965) and on the rights of children (1989) and persons with disabilities (2006) are just a few examples. Since then, the scope of human rights has been expanded, including several agreements that are legally binding on the countries that ratified them. That first set of rights included the right to life, religious expression, freedom from slavery, and a standard of living adequate for health and well-being. The declaration wasn’t legally binding, but it established a baseline of rights intended to ensure the conditions for basic human dignity. In 1948, in the aftermath of World War II, the newly formed United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in response to the atrocities of the Holocaust. Here are some examples of how similar resolutions have opened doors to stronger actions. I am a geographer who focuses on environmental justice, and much of my research investigates relationships between development-driven environmental change, natural resource use, and human rights. Resolutions like this have a history of laying the foundation for effective treaties and national laws. The language is also vague, leaving to interpretation just what a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is. The declaration is not legally binding-countries can vote to support a declaration of rights while not actually supporting those rights in practice. It also called on countries, companies, and international organizations to scale up efforts to turn that into reality. The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on July 28, 2022, to declare the ability to live in “ a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” a universal human right. What do these have in common? They represent the new frontier in human rights. Bees and pollinators are dying in unprecedented numbers that may force changes in crop production and food availability.

Air pollution from wildfires, vehicles, and industries threatens human health. Climate change is already affecting much of the world’s population, with startlingly high temperatures from the Arctic to Australia.

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