In a statement delivered on 27 February in Strasbourg at a conference on environmental protection and human rights, Giuseppe Palmisano, President of the European Committee of Social Rights, underlined the important contribution of the Committee to clarifying the complementarity and mutual relationship between environment and human rights. He emphasised that “deterioration of the environment has an undeniable impact on the enjoyment of many social rights”, that States must comply with their international obligations which include measures to avoid or reduce environmental damage in order to ensure the respect of specific social rights such as the right to health and to a healthy environment, the right to housing, the right to protection of poverty, etc. Moreover, the respect of social rights may in turn contribute to s better protection of the environment.

Giuseppe Palmisano expressed concern about the impact that climate change and natural disasters may have on people’s social rights such as the right to work and to earn a decent living, the right to safe and healthy working conditions, or the right of vulnerable groups to protection. Climate change can be expected to have alarming effects on the labour markets and on employment levels. Global warming related migration and “climate refugees” will raise a host of additional social rights issues in pace with accelerated demographic change.

Following the above, Giuseppe Palmisano made concrete proposals to the high-level conference:

• the European Committee of Social Rights can examine, under its reporting procedure and through targeted national reports, environment-related questions;
• the Committee can, in addition, examine environmental issues brought to its attention under the collective complaints procedure;
• in their follow-up to European Committee of Social Rights conclusions, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter and the European Code of Social Security must assume their responsibility and urge States to reverse situations of non-conformity with the Charter;
• the Committee of Ministers may take a leading role in the drafting of a new protocol to the European Social Charter to incorporate environmental issues into human rights protection.

For more information, consult the Conference webpage.