Join the civil society call for the recognition of the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment at the Council of Europe
As the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss escalates, the importance of protecting the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment has been reflected by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, by the UN General Assembly in 2022, and by over 160 countries worldwide. However, it has yet to be formally recognised by the Council of Europe (CoE), the continent’s strongest human rights protection and enforcement system, representing 46 member states and over 700 million citizens.
The time for Europe to protect this right is NOW!
CIDSE added its voice to the Coalition for the Right to a Healthy Environment to call on the Foreign Affairs Ministers and the Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the Council of Europe to protect the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment through the adoption of an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Such a protocol would not only strengthen the existing legal system but also enhance the European Court of Human Rights’ ability to protect environmental rights. It would also send a strong signal to both national and international communities, affirming Europe’s commitment to tackling the environmental crisis and providing its citizens with an enforceable right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
More than 200 civil society organisations have already joined this campaign. The joint letter was sent to the Permanent Representations of all 46 Council of Europe member states in Strasbourg on 15 March, but the call for signatures remains open. You too can endorse the letter and circulate this call as widely as possible to other organisations that might be interested in joining, to send a strong signal to national and international communities, affirming Europe’s commitment to tackling the environmental crisis and providing its citizens with an enforceable right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
You can support this call by signing the letter using the following form: https://forms.gle/xbXN8fxsLViJwEzu8.