Margaretha Wewerinke

The pandemic and the global climate crisis are not merely coinciding, but deeply intertwined with the structural flaws that characterise the way in which our societies are organised. Human rights offer important legal and ethical yardsticks in analysing the causes and the societal consequences of both these global crises. Human rights also envisage transformative action based on care and solidarity to mitigate the impacts of the crises and protect human dignity in the recovery process.

It is worth pausing to reflect on the massive scale of human rights violations caused by these two crises, and their capacity to kill, destroy and disenfranchise. Both crises perpetuate existing inequalities and undermine people’s resilience to deal with economic shocks. In different but related ways each of the crises threaten to kill millions, with those who are already marginalised bearing a disproportionate burden of fatalities. For billions of people in societies with fragile healthcare systems and limited or no social security, both crises are much more likely to be lethal than they are for those living in states with strong healthcare and welfare systems. Lack of adequate space, sanitary facilities and clean water often make social distancing and handwashing impossible for at least one billion of people who live in informal settlements or encampments, where access to quality healthcare is no guarantee either. These settlements and encampments also tend to be ill adapted to extreme weather events and other climate impacts, while for many, moving there was wholly or partly motivated by the need to escape from the impacts of climate change.

The socio-economic impacts of both these crises also exacerbate poverty and marginalisation worldwide. According to Oxfam, the economic and societal impacts of measures taken in response to COVID-19 could push nearly half a billion people into extreme poverty. The nexus between climate change and poverty has been a concern for decades: the climate crisis is known to undermine agriculture, access to clean water, food security, housing, health and education, amongst other impacts. These combined impacts perpetuate the cycle of poverty for millions of people, and are projected to worsen with further warming. The pandemic exacerbates these threats to the realisation of human rights for those at the frontlines of climate impacts. In every country, the homeless, minorities, people in detention, people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, refugees, migrants, the displaced and other marginalised groups – are at greatest risk of experiencing these threats to their human rights. Meanwhile the root causes of these crises are left largely unaddressed.

COVID-19 and climate-related loss and damage

The dangerous interaction of both crises came into sharp focus when severe tropical Cyclone Harold made its way across the Pacific Islands in early April 2020, coinciding with the rapid spread of the Corona virus. The Solomon Islands were affected first, with significant damage to the islands, food sources of several villages destroyed and 27 people missing and presumed dead after their ferry was swept away in dangerous seas. The passengers were amongst hundreds trying to return from the capital to their home villages as part of COVID-19 contingency plans.

The cyclone proceeded to cause widespread destruction in Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga, killing at least 5 people while flattening entire villages, destroying homes, schools and food gardens, and damaging critical infrastructure such as electricity and water supplies and roads. As an inhabitant of Ranwas in the south east of Vanuatu’s Pentecost summed it up, ‘the whole place looks as if it was bombed’.

With sustained winds of up to 165 mph, Harold was the strongest cyclone to hit Pacific Island nations since cyclone Pam in 2015 and Winston in 2016, both of which were also classified as category 5 cyclones. This quick succession of monster cyclones fits neatly into a pattern of increased intensification of events linked to warming ocean temperatures. Sea-level rise, coastal erosion, salt-water intrusion and more frequent and intense droughts have caused further damage to people’s lives and livelihoods in the region, with similar or climatologically related impacts experienced elsewhere on the globe.

The coinciding of the cyclone with the pandemic greatly increased the risks of human rights harm, or indeed violations, in various ways. As the cyclone approached, social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the virus had to be suspended to enable people to find safe shelter in mass evacuation centres. While the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tonga did not have confirmed cases, preventive measures had to be taken to minimise the risk of the virus spreading undetected, also due to extremely limited testing and treatment capacity. As the lead spokesperson of Vanuatu’s COVID-19 advisory team explained, if the virus arrived ‘it would be a disaster’. In Fiji the number of confirmed cases increased from 15 to 18 in the aftermath of the disaster; a figure that may be the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, there has been an increased risk of the disease spreading further as people struggle to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone. This combination of stressors makes people more susceptible not only to contracting the disease but also to more serious consequences from doing so.

In addition, travel and quarantine restrictions and shrinking aid budgets are now undermining the relief effort. Thus instead of rebuilding and simultaneously climate-proofing homes, buildings and infrastructure, many people do not even have access to basic relief. Children face a greater risk of dropping out of school. Widespread damage to tourist sites and infrastructure are yet another blow to the hospitality and tourism sector, already severely hit by the pandemic. Altogether, the development setbacks are likely to be felt for years or even decades. 

The transformative potential of human rights in the face of crises

Human rights can play a transformative role in correcting the injustices associated with the climate and coronavirus crises that play out in the Pacific and elsewhere. In requiring accountability for protection and responsibility for violations, human rights do not merely reveal the root causes of these crises; but insist on redress for victims.

The primary causes of climate change are fossil fuel extraction and combustion, together with the destruction of forests. For indigenous peoples and local communities already traumatised by colonial conquest and ongoing forms of oppression, many of these activities perpetuate a longstanding cycle of destruction of their homelands and traditional culture. Indigenous and local resistance to these harmful expansion and extraction projects is often met with violence and intimidation. In a similar vein, the destruction of biodiversity through deforestation, logging, mining or other actions that cause profound harm to the earth’s ecosystems is linked to increases in the spread of viruses while also causing harm to indigenous peoples and local communities whose livelihoods and cultures are intertwined with these ecosystems. The unequal ways in which these crises affect different segments of humanity underscore the deep flaws of the global economic model, which is based on the myth of indefinite growth.

However, the experiences of these crises, if understood through a transformative human rights lens, also reveal opportunities for realising a sustainable, non-growth, inclusive future. Arundhati Roy has aptly observed that the pandemic has shown us ‘a portal, a gateway between one world and the next’. In terms of human rights, the fork in the road represents a choice between either the perpetuation and worsening of human rights violations, or a world in which every effort is made to realise human rights and redress past injustices.

Now more than ever, the human rights community must take governments to task when their policies threaten to cause human rights violations. These threats to human rights arise from bailouts of fossil fuel companies and suspensions in the enforcement of environmental protection laws to arbitrary violence against civilians under the guise of enforcing lockdowns. Instead, bailouts and other forms of public spending, as well as tax policies, must be brought in line with the Paris Agreement’s stated goal of ‘making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development’, and the realisation of human rights everywhere. This alignment is long overdue: global fossil fuel subsidies, which according to the International Monetary Fund rose to a staggering $5.2 trillion in 2017, up from $4.7 trillion in 2015, directly fuel climate destruction, resulting in human rights violations, referred to earlier.  At the same time, only a fraction of desperately-needed funding for climate-resilient development is being provided to developing countries, which are faced with a crisis for which they bear little responsibility.  

The pandemic has made it clearer than ever before how interconnected we are as humanity. From a human rights perspective, it is impossible to overstate the importance of these global connections. The United Nations’ $2 billion global humanitarian response plan to fund coronavirus response measures in countries with fragile healthcare system will protect the rights to life and health not only in beneficiary countries, but globally. State support for the central role of the World Health Organization in addressing the pandemic, including through increased voluntary and assessed contributions, is also a crucial component of compliance with human rights obligations.

The UN’s proposed $2.5 trillion package to mitigate economic damage from the  COVID-19 crisis in developing countries is critical for addressing the broader human rights implications of the pandemic. In terms of quantity, the package represents less than the bare minimum of what human rights law requires in terms of international cooperation and assistance. The package is similar in size to Official Development Assistance (ODA) that should have been delivered over the last decade in accordance with the 0.7% ODA target, which has long been recognised by human rights bodies as a minimum threshold for developed countries to comply with their obligations of international cooperation and assistance under core human rights treaties. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has further emphasised the need for new and additional sources of finance (such as financial transaction taxes and carbon taxes) to reduce inequalities and fulfil human rights commitments worldwide. The quality of aid matters too, with concerns raised about donors seeking to use ODA to further their own political and economic interests, sometimes worsening rather than improving human rights situations. On the ground, participatory processes and affirmative action to the benefit of those who need it most are critical to ensure that rights are realised.

The human rights impact of both the climate crisis and the global pandemic demand international solidarity above and beyond the minimum thresholds for humanitarian assistance and ODA, including as a matter of established international law. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires climate action premised on fairness and equity, and specifically obliges developed countries to take the lead in climate action and provide financial resources to developing countries for mitigation and adaptation. Additional funding is needed to assist developing nations in averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage resulting from climate change.

The devastation caused by Cyclone Harold in Pacific Island countries serves as a stark reminder of states’ failure to implement these obligations, and the urgent need to correct this poor compliance record. Rarely have we witnessed greater momentum for turning the tide. Confronted with a myriad of pathways for repairing the ruptures caused by both the pandemic and the climate crisis to our lives and systems, the time to take human rights seriously is now.

Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh is an Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of the South Pacific. She has published widely on climate justice, international law and human rights. Twitter account: @mwewerinke