UAE Leads 69 Nations in Joint Statement on Climate Change and Human Rights at Human Rights Council

United Arab Emirates presented a coordinated statement of 69 nations during the 56th session of HRC in Geneva in which they discussed how climate change affects human rights. Khalifa Almazrouei, Counsellor at the UAE mission in Geneva spoke of the current status and impact of climate change saying that it was universal and cuts across the existing economic structures.

In his speech, Almazrouei stressed the importance put on human rights in the fight against climate change effects that deeply affect people with lower living standards. Many of these groups are living in conditions such as poverty, poor housing and shelter, long work hours outside in the sun or fishing in dangerous sea conditions and drastically affected by climate change reduced incomes with no option but to accept. To address effectively these challenges, one must make sure of their durability for the specialists.

The statement requested member states to mainstream human rights, uphold, support, and enforce them in areas to do with climate change policies as well as programs. It affirmed that climate justice is interwoven with development, stressing that the subject of climate change is development and that enhancing capacity to cope with climate change impacts is critical for achieving the SDGs/ensuring development.

It also cheered the historic moment at COP27 on setting up the loss and damage fund, a new separate financial entity, and praised the outcomes of the UAE Presidency of COP28 when commitments of more than 600 million US dollars were secured.

In addition, the statement stressed the need for improving the implementation of the climate change regime; it focused on adaptation, risk reduction, and provisions for loss and damage for the benefit of developing nations. Almazrouei underlined that all the represented nations would continue to effectively collaborate with all their partners and counterparts in order to reach shared objectives successfully, thus advancing the notion of climate justice as well as worldwide sustainable development.