Joint statement of the United Nations Special Procedures Mandate Holders on the occasion of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC

6 December 2018 - As independent experts of the UN Human Rights Council*, we call on States to fully integrate human rights standards and principles in the rules for implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change (the Paris Rulebook). In a significant breakthrough, in 2015, Parties to the Paris Agreement recognized the need to integrate their human rights obligations and their efforts to address climate change, pledging to respect and protect human rights in all climate actions. Now, as the Parties meet in Katowice, Poland for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (3 to 14 December 2018), they must take the necessary steps to operationalize their human rights obligations as they finalize the Paris Rulebook.

Climate change is one of today’s greatest threats to human rights, as illustrated in the recently released Special Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)¹, which describes the ways in which climate change is transforming life on earth and adversely impacting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The IPCC concluded that “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” are needed to prevent catastrophic climate impacts. Unfortunately, the existing commitments of State Parties to the Paris Agreement—through their nationally determined contributions—put the world heading for 3°C of warming.