On September 7th GI-ESCR participated on the America Regional Consultation convened by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) to detonate the debate and receive inputs for the development of a new General Comment on Sustainable Development and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This event is part of a series of regional consultations with different stakeholders across the world to map the key thematic issues that this new legal reference tool will incorporate to further unpack international human rights standards in relation to sustainable development.

The America Regional Consultation was convened by the drafting group of the UN CESCR in the context of developing a new General Comment on Sustainable Development and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, with the aim of discussing fundamental questions concerning sustainable development, environment, and economic, social and cultural rights. A total of four regional consultations will help the Committee’s drafting group to develop a future General Comment on the topic.

During the event, GI-ESCR was invited to make an intervention on the issues related to the impact of climate change and environmental degradation/biodiversity loss on the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights in the context of sustainable development. GI-ESCR highlighted that the key objective behind the concept of “sustainable development” is the balancing of economic needs, social justice, and environmental protection. In this context, GI-ESCR emphasized the importance to think about the energy transition as a strategy that goes beyond the imperative of combating climate change. The provision of universal access to sustainable energy should be recognized as a determinant factor for the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living, as well as for the realization of other key rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, such as the rights to health, work, education, water, and sanitation, and the advancement of the rights to non-discrimination and gender equality.

 

“The rapid development of sustainable energy is also essential to re-image the dominant economic model and to provide for sustainable alternative opportunities to produce and consume the services and goods that we need to protect and fulfil ESCR within planetary boundaries.”

The event provided for an opportunity to enhance the understandings of the interlinkages between ESCR, the energy transition, and gender equality, as well as to inform the members of the UN CESCR on the need to underscore the obligations of State parties to the ICESCR to advance new renewable energy systems that move away from the current fossil fuels energy paradigm and that fully address its environmental, human rights and gender deficits.