An appeal to the UNFCCC & State parties at COP27: Put human rights at the centre of climate action

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To: Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) · Cc: Danielle Magalhaes, Global Climate Action Team Lead, UN Climate Change

An appeal to the UNFCCC & State parties at COP27

The climate crisis is among the most critical and complex issues our planet and its people face. Human  rights and climate action are increasingly indivisible and the need to transition to cleaner energies has  never been more urgent. Yet this transition will be set up to fail if it focuses solely on being fast, and  not on also being just.

We represent a wide range of movements and organizations, working for climate justice, human  rights, labour rights, and corporate accountability. The profit driven extractive model which has  underpinned the global energy model has not provided the economic benefits or development promised  to many countries, and has entrenched existing inequalities, including around access to and ownership  of energy, and gender inequality. It must be transformed. COP27 offers a defining moment to accelerate  the transition away from fossil fuels and set the compass resolutely towards the energy  transition. Meeting this immense challenge requires swift and coordinated global action, as well as  redirection of private and public investments to renewable energy projects.

Disregarding the rights of local communities and Indigenous populations in the race to a decarbonized  economy by 2050, in particular those impacted by the boom in the extraction of the minerals needed  for the transition, and by land-intensive renewable energy projects, is short-sighted. It will result in  numerous human rights violations and a failure of the responsibility of governments to protect human  rights as established by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It is  already causing widespread abuse of land, water, and Indigenous Peoples' rights: 495 allegations of  human rights abuses were tracked so far in relation to transition minerals mining since 2010. But it will  also continue to fuel opposition, conflict, and result in delays to both projects and achieving our global  climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets. Such conflict has already resulted in at least  369 attacks on human rights, labour and environmental defenders around the world since 2015,  including 98 killings, related to renewable energy projects, and 148 attacks, among them 13 killings,  related to transition minerals mining. 

The limits of non-legislative, market-based approaches to improve corporate respect for human rights  are also clear: 78% of 1000 most influential companies, across 68 countries and 26 industries, scored  zero on all indicators measuring their voluntary steps towards human rights due diligence. Mandatory  human rights due diligence is necessary to close the accountability gap.

For real progress to be made at COP27, world leaders need to actively promote responsible renewable  energy by:

Recognizing that human rights are central to the climate response. The profit driven extractive  model has entrenched and exacerbated inequality, and contributed to driving conflict, environmental  damage, attacks on communities and defenders, while simultaneously playing a significant role in  emissions. An energy transition based on this model will fail. Governments must position human rights  at the core of their climate plans for it to be successful and sustainable long term. This means that  alongside commitments to expand renewable energy generation, Nationally Determined Contributions  (NDCs) need to include specific provisions to ensure that land rights, especially women’s land rights,  are protected, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, rooted in respect for their right to self-determination, are  upheld, and project benefits are equitably shared with marginalized and directly impacted communities;

Adopting new ambitious green policy and regulatory frameworks that protect workers, local  communities and Indigenous Peoples while directing foreign and domestic investment flows into

responsible renewable energy infrastructure: specific consideration should be given to upholding  Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) as well as the individual and  collective rights of customary land rights holders; and to the safety of human rights, labour and  environmental defenders;

Legislating to put an end to the most egregious corporate abuses through the introduction of gender  responsive mandatory human rights, environmental and climate due diligence;

Supporting an equitable energy transition by ensuring that renewable energy development results  in equal access to clean, reliable, and affordable energy for their populations, including for female headed households;

Adopting policies to prioritise reduced energy and material demands by wealthier countries as well  as increased efficiency, responsible product design and the recycling of minerals to minimise the  environmental and human impacts of mining activities and move away from the extraction-to exhaustion model of production.

In addition, we support the asks in the 2021 Declaration on Mining and the Energy Transition, including  centering the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, and workers throughout the  renewable energy value chain.

It is time to rethink how the energy transition can be used to advance our human rights agenda. A  climate agenda arising from neoliberal reforms that maintain existing industrial models is opening doors  to unsustainable investments and continues to see nature merely as an object of consumption or to be  exploited as an economic resource. It expects communities that contributed the least to the climate crisis  to bear the brunt of the transition, without benefiting from it and without being able to shape it. As such,  it cannot meet the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to meet the Paris climate  commitments – it will continue to be resisted, delayed, and could ultimately backfire.

Signed:

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre & Indigenous Peoples’ Rights International (IPRI)

11.11.11

350.org

ACCA

ACCION CONTRA EL HAMBRE

AIPNEE

AJI

ALTSEAN-Burma

AMDV

ANAFAE

ASONOG

Above Ground

Accountability Counsel

African Resources Watch (AFREWATCH)

Akad Cultural Institute

Amazon Watch

Amnesty International

Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK)

Anti-Slavery International

AsM Law Office

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

Asociación de Investigación y Especialización sobre Temas Iberoameicanos

Association pour l'Integration et le Developpement Durable au Burundi, AIDB (Indigenous Forum in consultative  ststatus with the UN ECOSOC)

Associação indígena de Artistas e artesãos de Alter do Chão - Kuximawara Bangladesh Indigenous Youth Forum

BankTrack

Batani Foundation

Both ENDS

Broederlijk Delen

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peacebuilding

Canadian Health Assoc for Sustainability & Equity (CHASE)

Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)

Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera

Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)

Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI)

Centro Hondureño de Promocion Para el Desarrollo Comunitario (Cehprodec) Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular (CINEP/PPP)

Centro de Promoción para el Desarrollo Comunal INTI

Chandpur Shwapna Chua Foundation

Cidse

Coalition for Wetlands and Forests

Comision Jurídica para Los Autodesarrollos de Los Primeros Andinos Originarios (CAPAJ) Community Care for the Environment in Timika Papua

Community Empowerment and Social Justice Network (CEMSOJ)

Congrès Mondial Amazigh

Cordillera Peoples Alliance

Corporación de Apoyo a Comunidades Populares Codacop

Council of Shor People Olders

Crane Institute for Sustainability

Cultural Survival

DKA Austria

Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente - DHUMA Puno

Development Alternatives

Development Education Community Project

Diaguita Cacicazgotacquia Indigenous community

Diálogo y Movimiento, A.C.

Due Process of Law Foundation

EarthRights International

Earthjustice

Earthworks

Ebiil Society, Palau

El Pueblo Indígena Bubi de la Isla de Bioko (EPIBIB)

Environmental Justice Foundation

Environmental Rights Foundation

European Coalition for Corporate Justice

Extinction Rebellion Zurich

FIAN

FIAN Belgium

FIAN Germany

FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights)

FOCUS DROITS ET ACCES

FTQ-Construction

Fastenaktion

Federación por la Autodeterminación de los pueblos indígenas (FAPI) First Peoples Worldwide

Fondation du Docip

Forest Peoples Programme

Forum Nobis PLLC

Friday For Future DRC

Friday For Future Goma

Fridays For Future Fukuoka

Fridays For Future India

Fridays For Future Indonesia

Fridays For Future Sierra Leone

Fridays For Future U.S.

Friends of the Attawapiskat River

Friends of the Earth Canada

Fulda university

Fundación Alboan

Fundación Quantum

Fédération des Organisations Autochtones de Guyane française - F.O.A.G

Generation Enough

Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights (GCBHR)

Global Citizen

Global Legal Action Network

Global Witness

Gobernadora Pluricultural del Estado de México, República Mexicana

Grand(m)others Act to Save the Planet - GASP

Grassroot

Help Guillermo Win

House On Fire Germany

Human Rights Watch

IPACC Indigenous People African Coordination Committee

Inclusive Development International

Indigenous Concerns Resource Center

Indigenous Environmental Network

Indigenous First Nation Advocacy South Africa (IFNASA)

Indigenous Peoples Forum, Odisha

Indigenous Peoples Global Forum for Sustainable Development, IPGFforSD (International Indigenous Platform) Indigenous Rights Advocacy Centre (IRAC)

Indigenous Women Legal Awareness Group (INWOLAG)

Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative

Indigenous knowledge and Peoples Networks, SWBC Nepal

Inter Pares

International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI)

International Land Coalition

International Land Coalition - Latin America and the Caribbean

International Rivers

International Service for Human Rights

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)

Kabataang Pulileño

Klimastreik

Knowledge Industry Ltd

Korea Transnational Corporations Watch (KTNC Watch)

Land is Life

Lawyers for Human Rights

Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) Lelewal Foundation

London Mining Network

Malach Consulting

Maleya Foundation

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT)

Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

MiningWatch Canada

NGO Civil Expertise Qazaqstan

Narasha Community Development Group

Natural Resource Governance Institute – NRGI

Nepal Kirat Kulung Bhasa Sanskriti Utthan Sangh

New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance, Inc.

Observatoire d'Etudes et d'Appui à la Responsabilité Sociale et Environnementale - OEARSE

Observatorio Ciudadano Chile

Osnabrück University

Oxfam International

PASTORAL SOCIAL DIÓCESIS DE QUIBDÓ

Pan African Human Rights Defenders Network (AfricanDefenders)

Panaghiusa Philippine Network to Uphold Indigenous Peoples Rights

Peace Brigades International - UK Section

Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights

Plant Based Treaty

Project HEARD

Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER)

Protection International

Publiez Ce Que Vous Payez (PCQVP) - Mali

Publish What You Pay (PWYP)

Publish What You Pay - US

RED ONG´s AMÉRICA LATINA

RMIB-LAC

Radyo Sagada 104.7fm

Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos "Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos" (Red TDT  de México)

Renovate Switzerland

Rights & Accountability in Development (RAID)

Rights CoLab

Rivers without Boundaries International Coalition (RwB)

Réseau des Populations Autochtones et Locales de Centrafrique (REPALCA)

SAP-AU Internationale, France

SETEM Catalunya

Sierra Leone Land Alliance

SIRGE Coalition

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team

Society for Threatened Peoples (Switzerland)

South Vihar Welfare Society for Tribal

Southern Defenders

Stand.earth

Structural Analysis of Cultural Systems (S.A.C.S.)

Sundargargh Adivasi Manch, Odisha, India

Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)

Swedwatch

Tebtebba

The Grail and UFER-United for Equity and Ending Racism

The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)

Tirap Youth Trust

Trócaire

Unissons-nous pour la Promotion des Batwa (UNIPROBA)

VIVAT International

War on Want

Western Mining Action Network - Indigenous Caucus

Women Working Worldwide

Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - WILPF Finland

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - WILPF Togo

Working Group Amazonia Is Life, P4F

World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA)

Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines / Fridays For Future Philippines

Youth Climate Save Canada

Zambia Climate Change Network (ZCCN

Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA)

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