The Right to a Healthy Environment: the Time for Europe to Protect is Now

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has joined partners signing an open letter to call for the adoption of an additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.  

Through an open letter, addressed to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and to the Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the Council of Europe, is part of a broader advocacy effort of the Coalition for the Right to a Healthy Environment at the Council of Europe, which brings together over 150 civil society, youth and indigenous people organisations that stand together for the recognition of the Right to a Healthy Environment in the European human rights system. 

As the triple planetary crisis escalates, the importance of protecting the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment has already been reflected by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, by the UN General Assembly in 2022, and by over 160 countries worldwide. However, the Council of Europe (CoE), the continent's strongest system for the protection and enforcement of human rights, representing 46 Member States and over 700 million citizens, has yet to officially recognize it. 

The time for Europe to protect this right is now! Such a protocol would not only strengthen the existing legal system but also enhance the European Court of Human Rights' ability to protect environmental rights. It would also send a strong signal to both national and international communities, affirming Europe's commitment to tackling the environmental crisis and providing its citizens with an enforceable right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.  

The letter, which was drafted collectively, can be found here in English, French and German.