On the initiative of Marie Toussaint MEP (Greens/EFA, France), 69 MEPs from five political groups in the European Parliament (Greens/EFA, The Left, S&D, Renew Europe and EPP) sent a joint letter to the European Commission, the current Portuguese Presidency and the future Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU calling on them to support the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment at the next UN General Assembly.
“We can no longer claim to protect our human rights without protecting the environment in which we live, and on which we depend for our livelihood”, said Mrs Toussaint on this occasion, while qualifying the request of the 69 parliamentarians as “ urgent” and “a crucial issue of this century”.
The signatory MEPs furthermore call on the Commission and the Portuguese Presidency to “take concrete action for the recognition of the right to a healthy environment in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)”, for example by establishing an additional protocol to the ECHR, as proposed by the UN rapporteur on Environment and Human Rights, David Boyd.
Recalling that Parliament had already called for global recognition of the right to a healthy environment in a resolution on deforestation adopted at the end of October 2020 (see EUROPE 12587/6), the letter also calls for “work on policies ensuring the enforcement of this right” within the European Union territory.
See the letter: http://bit.ly/3b1ptEZ (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)