L-R: Mohammad Ali Alnsour, Chief – Middle East and North Africa (OHCHR), Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali, Secretary-General of the NHRC, and Michel Forst UN Special Rapporteur on Environment Defenders during a press conference yesterday.
Top officials have lauded the International Conference for Climate Change and Human Rights as a resounding success in establishing the link between both phenomena.
Speaking to the media during a press conference after the event, Mohammad Ali Alnsour, Chief – Middle East and North Africa at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the conference has put climate change as a priority.
“The conference has made recommendations to the different actors, international actors, including the United Nations Human Rights Council and also the League of Arab States as partners, and the national human rights institutions (NHRIs), as the main partner in this conference,” Alnsour said.
“Now, in terms of the implementation, one of the concrete outcomes of this conference was that we managed to put climate change as the priority district in this region. Before this conference, it wasn’t much regarded as a concern regarding human rights and climate change. In my view, this is very important that we are moving in this direction,” he added.
Alnsour stressed that climate change already affects agriculture, the right to life, water and sanitation, adding that climate change is not only a problem in the Middle East and North Africa but a global issue.
“It is a very complex and technical issue. Again, it wasn’t resolved before, and I think one of the immediate outcomes of this conference is the attention and focus on climate change and human rights. Still, we have a lot to do to convince the member states to have an implementation plan.
“I know that it is a very complex issue; it relates to resources and funds, which is an issue in the global South. So, we need to work more, but this is an excellent start.”
Also speaking about the conference and the recommendations made, Secretary-General of the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Sultan bin Hassan Al Jamali said organisers would hold other events over the next few years keeping track of the recommendations in Doha.
“We are not focused on only this as an annual conference, but also periodic meetings to meet the objectives of the roadmap and action plan we have come up with. We organised this event to encourage and follow up with the states. Also, to work with the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations to encourage them to respect their commitments regarding climate change and to exert efforts to help humankind adapt to climate change.”
