Transcript Maldives Submission - student presentation

Maldives Submission
Teresita Acedo
Meglena Antonova
Monica Camacho
April 10, 2013
Introduction
• Background and context
• Specific human rights violated
• Role of International Community
Background and Context
Human Rights Council issued a
Resolution calling on the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights
to perform a study on the
relationship between human rights
and climate change
Maldives
• Composed of 1,192 islands in the North Indian
Ocean
• About 80% of the islands are less than 1 meter
above sea level
• Only 203 islands are inhabited
• 96% of all islands are smaller than 1 km2
• Population totals roughly 300,000 people, and
about one third is concentrated in Male’, the capital
Climate Change Impacts
• Sea-level rise
• Increases in sea and surface
temperatures
• Increases in the intensity of extreme
weather events
• Changes in precipitation
Human Rights Council
Resolutions on Climate Change
and Human Rights
• March 2008: Resolution 7/23
• March 2009: Resolution 10/4
• September 2011: Resolution 18/22
Scope of Maldives’ obligations
under HRs Conventions
• Primary duties
– ICCPR; ICESCR; CRC; CEDAW
• Constitution
Collective Rights
• Right to Self-determination and to a means of subsistence
(Articles 1 ICCPR & 1 ICESCR; Articles 1 & 55 UNC)
Individual Rights
• Civil and Political Rights
– Right to life (Article 6 ICCPR)
– Right to property (Articles 15 and 16 CEDAW; Art 15(2) ILO 169;
Article 1, ECHR Protocol 1)
• Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
– Right to food (Article 11 ICESCR)
– Right to housing (Article 11.1 ICESCR; Article 14.2 CEDAW)
– Right to health (Article 12 ICESCR)
– Right to water (implied in Article 11 ICESCR; Article 24 CRC; Article
14.2 CEDAW)
– Right to work (Articles 6, 7, 8 ICESCR)
– Other (education, etc.)
Procedural Rights
• Right of access to Information (Article 19 UDHR and ICCPR;
Article 6 UNFCCC)
• Right of participation in decision-making (Articles 21 UDHR
and 25 ICCPR; Article 6 UNFCCC)
• Right to emedy (Article 8 UDHR and Article 14 ICCPR; Rio
Principles 10 and 13)
Safeguarding Rights
Safeguarding rights during implementation of Mitigation and
Adaptation Measures
• Moving away from processes that release GHG emissions may
pose serious threat to the enjoyment of HRs
• Effects of undermining the rights of individuals
• Solution: need for adequate planning and careful
consideration of HRs; consistency with principle of nondiscrimination
• Measures taken to ensure relocation is voluntary
Safeguarding Rights
Safeguarding rights during natural disaster
• IDP concept
• CC exacerbates the likelihood and intensity of disasters that
lead to internal displacement and migration
• Solution: strengthening the normative and institutional
frameworks for protection of IDPs; clarifying the scope of
obligations of both national and international actors
• Need to both take measures to prevent displacement and to
minimize its adverse effects
The role of the international
community
In order to ensure that the rights of the Maldives´ people are protected in
accordance with the HR instruments, the international community has the duty
to:
• Limit emissions to scientifically-agreed safe levels (self-determination)
•
Ensure that they implement their obligations under existing CC agreements
•
Provide funding for adaptation measures that are essential to the fulfillment
of fundamental economic, social, and cultural rights
•
Take steps to ensure that private actors within their jurisdiction do not violate
the rights protected by the HR instruments
The role of the international
community
•
Take into account international HR obligations in negotiations addressing CC
•
Ensure that activities under their jurisdiction or control do not result in the
violations of the rights recognized in customary international law: selfdetermination, non-discrimination, and the right to life
•
Take the lead in combating climate change and its adverse effects: Common
but differentiated responsibilities. UNFCCC/KP
•
Recognize the precautionary approach
•
Develop and publish national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions and
sinks, implement national programs, etc.
The role of the international
community
In the Maldives the implementation of adaptation measures has been made
with the support of the international community, but they are insufficient to
fully protect HR from the threat of CC.
Most of the international support has come in response to the catastrophic
damages of a tsunami in 2004, rather than in the form of climate change
specific adaptation fund, and is not enough to respond to the still emerging
impacts of CC.
Further measures are necessary as sea-levels rise and warming continues as
projected by the scientific consensus.
Kingdom Under Change
Maldives Islands - Kingdom under Change video
Questions?
Thank you for your kind attention! 