Opportunities offered by the Reporting Procedure of the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies

In a nutshell…
If the State in which you are working is to be reviewed by a UN Human Rights Treaty Body, there might be an opportunity to secure policy relevant recommendations from this UN body addressing specifically the shortcomings of your government’s climate policies from a human rights perspective.
This requires the submission of information to the Human Rights Treaty Body based on information that you already have for your on-going climate campaigns. The process can provide another avenue for putting pressure on States to take action on climate change and the recommendations can be used to reinforce advocacy messages at the national level, including in litigation.
For example, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended that Argentina: ‘reconsider the large-scale exploitation of non-conventional fossil fuels through hydraulic fracturing in the Vaca Muerta region, in order to ensure compliance with its obligations under the Covenant, in the light of the Paris Agreement commitments. It also encourages the State party to promote alternative and renewable energy sources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and set national targets with time-bound benchmarks..’