May 2010: The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) has released its annual report, which covers activities and major results achieved in 2009 concerning the implementation of the 2008-2009 Strategic Management Plan. The report notes that OHCHR’s support contributed to increased recognition and acceptance of the human rights implications of climate change and the linkages between human rights and environment.
It highlights that OHCHR: prepared a report on climate change and human rights that was considered by the Human Rights Council at its tenth session; facilitated a panel discussion of the Human Rights Council on human rights and climate change; and supported various meetings on human rights and climate change in the context of international climate change negotiations, including side events during the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in 2009. The report notes that climate change was an issue present in several mandates of the Commission, including the work on internally displaced persons (IDP), resulting in shared terminology on different affected populations and a common understanding of the normative frameworks for their protection, as well as of legal and institutional gaps; the mandate on the right to adequate housing; the work on right to food; and the work on right to water and sanitation. [OHCHR Website on Human Rights and Climate Change] [OHCHR Report]