PACE President Rik Daems visited the European Youth Centre Budapest as part of his working visit to Hungary.
The aim of his visit to the centre was to take part in a roundtable with several young activists representing various youth and environmental organisations and initiatives. The discussion centred on the links between the environmental and climate crises and human rights and the role of youth activism in bringing about change. Kicking off the meeting, president presented the work of the PACE related to climate change and the right to a healthy environment, including a PACE Recommendation in the works on human rights and the environment. Mr Daems also draw attention to the work underway in the Parliamentary Assembly as well as his own efforts in support of an Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights concerning the right to a healthy environment. „This would give the opportunity of over 830 million European citizens to take their governments to task at the Strasbourg court if their rights to a liveable environment have been violated,” he emphasised, saying that this would be a major step towards pushing governments and parliaments of member states to develop progressive policies and legislation, contributing to a global effort to address the current environmental crises more effectively.
On their part, the invited activists described their work in grassroots mobilising, advocacy, information dissemination and youth participation with the goal of mobilising young people in support of combating climate change. They also highlighted some of the difficulties they face with accessing formal educational institutions, ensuring genuine youth participation in decision making processes or exercising their rights to peaceful assembly during the COVID-19 pandemic due to restrictions. „Humans are part of the ecosphere, so any discussion on human rights should naturally include the right to a healthy environment,” said Petra Buru of Fridays for Future. Other activists highlighted the importance of ensuring a just transition to a sustainable future and the need to bring scientific knowledge on the climate crisis and its potential consequences and solutions to a broader audience in an accessible manner.
Connecting via videoconference, Zuzana Pavelková, member of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Council on Youth, highlighted to work of the Council of Europe’s youth sector concerning the climate crisis. „Today, we are at a point where nobody dares to question whether the Council of Europe should be working on environmental rights or not. We agree that the climate crisis is such a fundamental issue that is going to have a profound impact on human rights on so many levels, that we simply cannot afford not to work on this topic,” Pavelková said.
The Council of Europe’s unique added value is its human rights perspective,” Pavelková added. „This is what we bring in to this debate, which can otherwise be very technical and I believe we should be very careful in safeguarding this unique approach because it actually puts humans in the centre.”
The meeting concluded with the President inviting the activists to continue proactively engaging with the Council of Europe’s work concerning the environment, including during the PACE September session in Strasbourg.
