‘Climate apartheid’: UN expert says human rights may not survive
The world is
increasingly at risk of “climate apartheid”, where the rich pay to escape heat
and hunger caused by the escalating climate crisis while the rest of the world
suffers, a report from a UN human rights expert has said. Philip Alston, UN
special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said the impacts of
global heating are likely to undermine not only basic rights to life, water,
food, and housing for hundreds of millions of people, but also democracy and
the rule of law.
Alston is critical of
the “patently inadequate” steps taken by the UN itself, countries, NGOs and
businesses, saying they are “entirely disproportionate to the urgency and
magnitude of the threat”. His report to the UN human rights council (HRC)
concludes: “Human rights might not survive the coming upheaval.” The report also
condemns Donald Trump for “actively silencing” climate science, and criticises
the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, for promising to open
up the Amazon rainforest to mining. But Alston said there were also
some positive developments, including legal cases against states and fossil
fuel companies, the activism of Greta
Thunberg and the worldwide school strikes, and Extinction Rebellion.
In May, Alston’s
report on poverty in the UK compared Conservative
party welfare policies to the creation of 19th-century workhouses.
Ministers said his report gave a completely inaccurate picture, but Alston
accused them of “total
denial of a set of uncontested facts”. Alston’s report on
climate change and poverty will be formally presented to the HRC in Geneva on
Friday. It said the greatest impact of the climate crisis would be on those
living in poverty, with many losing access to adequate food and water... read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/25/climate-apartheid-united-nations-expert-says-human-rights-may-not-survive-crisis