The United Nations Human Rights Council today adopted by consensus a resolution tabled by the Maldives Government on the subject of human rights and climate change. The resolution is seen as a vital stepping stone towards increased global awareness about the immediate and compelling human face of climate change. The Maldives hopes that this in-turn will enhance the moral and ethical imperative for the world's climate change negotiators to act decisively to halt and reverse global warming.

 The resolution was sponsored by seventy-five countries from all regions[1] , demonstrating the importance of the issue for millions of people around the world, as well as a common determination among the world's governments to respond decisively to climate change and in-so-doing protect the future of vulnerable countries like the Maldives.

 The resolution calls on United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct a study into the effects of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights. The study will then form the basis of a full Human Rights Council debate on the issue during its March 2009 Session. The conclusions of the study and the debate will be fed into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) ongoing negotiating process in order to raise political awareness about the human dimension of global warming.

 Speaking after the adoption of the resolution, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives, H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, said:

 “It is vital for the future of vulnerable countries like the Maldives that the world takes serious and meaningful steps, within the Bali Process of UNFCCC negotiations, to arrest and reverse climate change. In order to do so, the world's climate change negotiators must possess a clear understanding of the massive impact that global warming is already having on people and communities around the world. There is no doubt that the successful adoption today of the Maldives-led resolution on human rights and climate change will make a historic contribution to the development of such understanding and empathy.

 Today is a vital day for the fight against climate change. It is the day on which the world stood together and expressed its determination to highlight the human dimension of climate change as an essential precursor to establishing a robust and effective post-Kyoto settlement”.

 The adoption of the resolution on human rights and climate change is the latest stage in the Maldives Government's efforts to draw attention to the effects of climate change on human beings around the world. The initiative was launched in July 2007 by the President of the Maldives, H.E. Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in a speech on environmental rights to the Royal Commonwealth Society in London. This speech was followed by an address to the Human Rights Council in September by Minister Shahid in which he urged the Council to take-up the issue of climate change as a matter of urgency. In November, the Maldives hosted a meeting of Small Island States to discuss the relationship between human rights and climate change; a meeting which culminated in the adoption of the Male' Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change. Finally, in December President Gayoom gave a keynote address to the High-Level Segment of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, which launched a 2-year process to negotiate a new global agreement on climate change.

 During the Council session today, upon presentation of the Resolution countries, including Pakistan, Japan, Sri Lankan and Bangladesh, commended the Maldives for bringing such a grave issue of present time to the Council and applauded it for the consultative approach adopted during the lead up to the final draft of the Resolution. 

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