UNITED NATIONS
OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
SPECIAL PROCEDURES OF THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Mapping Human Rights Obligations Relating to the Enjoyment of a
Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment
Individual Report on the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Report No. 4
Prepared for the Independent Expert on the Issue of Human Rights Obligations Relating to the
Enjoyment of a Safe, Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment
December 2013
1
I.
II.
III.
INTRODUCTION
A.
SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS
B.
OVERVIEW OF THE REPORT
HUMAN RIGHTS THREATENED BY ENVIRONMENTAL HARM
A.
RIGHT TO THE HIGHEST ATTAINABLE STANDARD OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL
HEALTH
B.
RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING, INCLUDING THE RIGHTS TO
ADEQUATE HOUSING, ADEQUATE FOOD AND SAFE AND CLEAN DRINKING
WATER AND SANITATION
C.
RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
D.
RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
OBLIGATIONS ON STATES RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT
A.
PROCEDURAL OBLIGATIONS
B.
SUBSTANTIVE OBLIGATIONS
C.
OBLIGATIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS OF GROUPS IN VULNERABLE
SITUATIONS
IV.
CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES: HUMAN RIGHTS DUTIES, THE ENVIRONMENT
AND NON-STATE ACTORS
V.
CONCLUSIONS
2
I.
INTRODUCTION
1.
This report outlines the nature of human rights obligations relating to the
enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment under the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)1 and
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women.2
2.
This report is one of a series of 14 reports that examine human rights obligations
related to the environment as they have been described by various sources of international law, in
the following categories: (a) UN human rights bodies and mechanisms; (b) global human rights
treaties; (c) regional human rights systems; and (d) international environmental instruments.
Each report focuses on one source or set of sources, and all reports follow the same format.
3.
These reports were researched and written by legal experts working pro bono
under the supervision of John H. Knox, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights
obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. In
March 2012, in Resolution 19/10, the Human Rights Council established the mandate of the
Independent Expert, which includes, inter alia, studying the human rights obligations relating to
the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and reporting to the Council
on those obligations.
1
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
U.N. Doc. A/34/46, 18 December 1979 (entered into force on 3 September 1981). As of 19
September 2013, there are 187 state parties to CEDAW. Palau and the United States of America
are the only signatories that have not yet ratified CEDAW.
2
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, U.N. Doc. A/RES/54/4, 15 October 1999 (entered into force 22 December
2000). The CEDAW Optional Protocol permits the Committee to receive and consider
communications submitted by individuals or groups of individuals claiming to victims of a
violation of any of the rights set forth in CEDAW by a State party to the Optional Protocol. As of
19 September 2013, there are 104 State parties to the Optional Protocol.
3
4.
In his first report to the Council, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/22/43 (24 December 2012),
the Independent Expert stated that his first priority would be to provide greater conceptual clarity
to the application of human rights obligations related to the environment by taking an evidencebased approach to determining the nature, scope and content of the obligations. To that end, he
assembled a team of volunteers to map the human rights obligations pertaining to environmental
protection in as much detail as possible. The results of the research are contained in this and the
other reports in this series.
5.
The Independent Expert’s second report to the Council, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/25/53
(30 December 2013), describes the mapping project and summarizes its conclusions on the basis
of the findings of the 14 specific reports. In brief, the main conclusions are that the human rights
obligations relating to the environment include procedural obligations of States to assess
environmental impacts on human rights and to make environmental information public, to
facilitate participation in environmental decision-making, and to provide access to remedies, as
well as substantive obligations to adopt legal and institutional frameworks that protect against
environmental harm that interferes with the enjoyment of human rights, including harm caused
by private actors. States are also subject to a general requirement of non-discrimination in the
application of environmental laws, and have additional obligations to members of groups
particularly vulnerable to environmental harm, including women, children and indigenous
peoples.
A.
SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS
6.
This report examines human rights obligations set out in CEDAW and elaborated
by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (the
Committee), the 23-member committee of independent experts responsible for monitoring the
4
progress made in the implementation of CEDAW and considering communications submitted
under the CEDAW Optional Protocol.
7.
This report is based on an examination of certain primary materials produced by
the Committee in relation to its function of promoting and protecting human rights under
CEDAW.
8.
The following categories of Committee documentation were reviewed:
(a)
General Recommendations;
(b)
Annual Reports;
(c)
Concluding Observations;
(d)
Statements of the Committee;
(e)
Committee Decisions under the CEDAW Optional Protocol; and
(f)
Inquiry Reports under the CEDAW Optional Protocol.
9.
Due to time and resource constraints, examination of the materials listed above
was limited to documentation produced between 2000 and 2013, with the exception of the
General Recommendations, which were reviewed for the period 1986 through 2013. Of the
documentation reviewed, the research was narrowed to those materials containing relevant
search terms.
10.
The search terms covered a broad range of topics relevant to the environment,
including the principal causes of environmental harm and several ways in which environmental
harm and its consequences are manifested. Additionally, the search terms include the names of
key instruments or principles adopted in the international sphere in relation to the various aspects
of environmental damage and degradation. The relevant terms are set forth in the table below:
5















Environment*
Water
Flood
Drought
Storm
Hurricane
Ecolog*
Sustain*
Sanitary
Toxic
Stockholm
Declaration
Aarhus
Biodiversity
Chemical
Deforest*
11.
















Natural Resources
Climate
“Global warming”
Emission*
Greenhouse
Food
Pollut*
Contamina*
Nature
Rio Declaration
Principle 10
Agenda 21
Habitat
Mining
Typhoon
Drown















Carbon dioxide
CO2
Sea level*
Erosion
Hazardous
Asbestos
PCB
Mercury
Acid
Extinct; extinction
Endangered
Ecosystem
Dam
Desertification
Flaring
Due to the large volume of responsive materials to the term “water,” only
statements related to the affirmative pollution or contamination of water sources were reviewed.
General discussions of inadequate water supplies or unsanitary water conditions were not
incorporated into this report.
12.
The main sources used for searching relevant documentation were the databases
available on the website for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights,3 which contains the most comprehensive collection of documents relating to the work of
the Committee. The review was conducted of English language documents; accordingly, there
may be instances of materials published by the Committee only in other official languages of the
United Nations that are not reflected in the report.
3
See The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/CEDAWIndex.aspx.
6
B.
OVERVIEW OF THE REPORT
13.
Part II of this report discusses the human rights under CEDAW that are
implicated by environmental degradation and exploitation. Part III examines State parties’
procedural and substantive obligations relating to the protection of the environment that have
been recognized by the Committee, including specific duties that are owed to members of
particularly vulnerable groups. Part IV considers the cross-cutting issue of human rights
obligations relating to non-State actors that are responsible for environmental harms. Finally,
Part V summarizes recent trends in the Committee’s discussions of human rights impacts
resulting from environmental degradation and further elaborates on areas that would benefit from
additional consideration.
7
II.
HUMAN RIGHTS THREATENED BY ENVIRONMENTAL HARM
14.
The text of CEDAW neither explicitly describes a “human right to a healthy
environment” nor expressly connects environmental harms and adverse impacts to human rights.
15.
Despite the absence of an explicit connection between environmental harms and
human rights in CEDAW, the relationship between environmental harms and human rights
protections has been recognized and integrated into the understanding of “traditional” human
rights by the Committee. This understanding has also been incorporated into recent resolutions
of the Human Rights Council, which has stated:
that sustainable development and the protection of the environment
can contribute to human well-being and the enjoyment of rights . . .
[and] conversely, that environmental damage can have negative
implications, both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment
of human rights.4
More specifically, the Human Rights Council and its predecessor body, the Commission on
Human Rights, have identified specific linkages between environmental harms and resulting
adverse impacts to human rights in the contexts of sustainable development,5 climate change6
and the movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes.7
4
Human Rights Council Resolution 16/11, 12 April 2011, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/RES/16/11.
5
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2005/60, 20 April 2005, U.N. Doc.
E/CN.4/RES/2005/60 (“environmental damage, including that caused by natural circumstances or
disasters, can have potentially negative effects on the enjoyment of human rights and on a healthy
life and a healthy environment”).
6
Human Rights Council Resolution 7/23, Human rights and climate change, 28 March 2008, U.N.
Doc. A/HRC/RES/7/23 (noting Council’s concern “that climate change poses an immediate and
far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world and has implications for the full
enjoyment of human rights”).
7
Human Rights Council Resolution 12/18, Analytical study on human rights and transitional
justice, 12 October 2009, U.N. Doc A/HRC/RES/12/18 (strongly condemning “the movement
and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes, which have a negative impact on the
enjoyment of human rights”).
8
16.
The Committee has recognized these linkages and mirrored the approach of the
Human Rights Council in finding that environmental degradation threatens the enjoyment of
many of the human rights explicitly protected under CEDAW. The following sections describe
human rights that have been implicated and addressed by the Committee when considering the
impact of environmental harm, including:
(a)
the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;
(b)
the right to an adequate standard of living, including the rights to adequate
housing, food and safe and clean drinking water and sanitation;
(c)
the right to land;
(d)
the right of freedom of movement; and
(e)
the right to development.
17.
The Committee has also referenced instances where environmental degradation
has impaired not merely a single human right, but rather the full enjoyment of all human rights.
18.
For example, the occurrence of extreme weather events and natural disasters has
been identified as one impediment to the full implementation of all human rights under CEDAW.
Indeed, the Committee emphasized in a recent General Recommendation that natural disasters
“have a deep impact on and broad consequences for the equal enjoyment and exercise by women
of their fundamental rights.”8 More specifically, the Committee cited the devastation caused by
hurricanes in Saint Kitts and Nevis, describing them as “one of the main obstacles to the full
8
General Recommendation No. 28 on the core obligations of State parties under article 2 of the
Convention, Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for
the Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh & Forty-eighth sessions, 16 December 2010, U.N. Doc.
CEDAW/C/GC/28, ¶ 11; see also Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women for the Twenty-fourth & Twenty-fifth sessions, Consideration of reports of States
parties: Nicaragua, 15 January 2001 – 2 February 2001, 2-20 July 2001, U.N. Doc.
A/56/38(SUPP), ¶ 293 (“The Committee notes that the high level of poverty in Nicaragua,
aggravated by natural disasters, poses a serious obstacle to the implementation of the Convention
and women’s full enjoyment of their rights.”).
9
implementation of the [CEDAW].”9 Similarly, the Committee recognized that a hurricane in El
Salvador contributed to delaying the implementation of a number of measures aimed at the
advancement of women.10 The Committee has also suggested that recurrent droughts may
contribute to State parties’ failure to uphold human rights, explaining in its Concluding
Comments to Eritrea in 2006 that these harsh conditions had contributed to widespread poverty
that was causing violations of women’s human rights.11
19.
The full implementation of all human rights under CEDAW can also be
obstructed by general environmental degradation and natural-resource scarcity. The
Committee’s Concluding Observation to Uzbekistan in 2001 considered that the “negative
effects of . . . the ecological degradation in the country are major impediments to the full
implementation of the Convention.”12 In its Concluding Observations to Jordan in 2000, the
Committee found that the rapid growth of the population coupled with the scarcity of nature
resources was similarly affecting the full implementation of CEDAW.13
9
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Twentysixth, Twenty-seventh & Exceptional sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Saint
Kitts and Nevis, 14 January-1 February 2002, 3-21 June 2002, 5-23 August 2002, U.N. Doc.
A/57/38(SUPP), ¶ 92.
10
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Twenty-eighth & Twenty-ninth sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: El Salvador,
13-31 January 2003, 30 June-18 July 2003, U.N. Doc. A/58/38(SUPP), ¶ 245.
11
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Twenty-second & Twenty-third sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Eritrea, 16
January- 3 February 2006, 15 May-2 June 2006, 7-25 August 2006, U.N. Doc. A/61/38(SUPP), ¶
84.
12
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Twentyfourth & Twenty-fifth sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Uzbekistan, 15
January-2 February 2001, 2-20 July 2001, U.N. Doc. A/56/38(SUPP), ¶ 165.
13
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Twenty-second & Twenty-third sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Jordan, 17
January – 4 February 2000, 12-30 June 2000, U.N. Doc. A/55/38(SUPP), ¶ 165.
10
A.
RIGHT TO THE HIGHEST ATTAINABLE STANDARD OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL
HEALTH
20.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) establishes that:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the
health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services,
and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his control.14
Similarly, Article 12(1) of the ICESCR recognizes “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”15
21.
Article 12 of CEDAW also recognizes the human right to health. The treaty
obligates all State parties to:
take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against
women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women, access to health care services . . .16
22.
The Committee has consistently acknowledged the relationship between general
environmental harms and the right to health. In its 2001 Concluding Observations to
Kazakhstan, for example, the Committee expressed its “concern about the degree of
environmental degradation in the country and its extremely negative impact on the health of the
whole population, in particular women and children.”17
14
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, U.N. Doc. A/810, 10 December 1948, art. 25(1).
15
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 993 U.N.T.S. 3, 16 December
1966 (entered into force Jan. 3, 1976), art. 12(1).
16
CEDAW, note 1 supra, art. 12(1).
17
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Twentyfourth & Twenty-fifth sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Kazakhstan, 15
January-2 February 2001, 2-20 July 2001, U.N. Doc. A/56/38(SUPP), ¶¶ 105-106; see also
Consideration of reports of States parties: Uzbekistan, note 12 supra, ¶ 185-186.
11
23.
The Committee has also emphasized that the impact of general environmental
harm on rural women must be carefully addressed. In its Concluding Observations to Mongolia
in 2008, the Committee expressed its “concern about the specific impact of environmental
degradation on rural women.”18
24.
In addition to broad environmental harms, the Committee has considered
individual acts of environmental pollution in light of their adverse impacts on the right to health.
In its Concluding Comments to Romania in 2000, the Committee stated its “concern about the
situation of the environment, including industrial accidents and their impact on women’s
health.”19 Other examples can be found in the Committee’s express disapproval of the harm to
women’s health resulting from the use of certain agricultural products,20 arsenic contamination
of groundwater resources,21 and the presence of excessive radiation stemming from the
Chernobyl nuclear accident.22
18
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Forty-Second session, Mongolia, 7 November 2008, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/MNG/CO/7,
¶¶ 35-36; see also Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth & Thirty-Ninth sessions, Consideration of reports of States
parties: Mozambique, 1 January 2007, U.N. Doc. A/62/38(SUPP), ¶¶ 195-196 (“The Committee
further expresses concern about the specific impact of environmental degradation on the situation
of rural women.”).
19
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Twentysecond & Twenty-third sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Romania, 17 January4 February 2000, 12-30 June 2000, U.N. Doc. A/55/38(SUPP), ¶ 314.
20
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Thirtysecond & Thirty-third sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Paraguay, 10-28
January 2005, 5-22 July 2005, U.N. Doc. A/60/38(SUPP), ¶¶ 289-290. (“The Committee . . . is
also concerned about the extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides, which, when improperly used,
are harmful to the health of rural women and their families.”); Concluding Observations of the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Fiftieth session,
Paraguay, 8 November 2011, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/PRY/CO/6, ¶¶ 32-33.
21
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Thirtieth & Thirty-first sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Bangladesh, 12-30
January 2004, 6-23 July 2004, U.N. Doc. A/59/38(SUPP), ¶¶ 259-260 (“The Committee is
concerned about the impact of the arsenic poisoning of water, which is disproportionately
12
25.
Finally, the Committee has drawn a connection between the effects of climate
change and their impacts on the right to health. In its 2002 Annual Report, the Committee
recommended that the then-upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development place a
priority on “developing action plans and measures to address climate change, pollution and their
adverse effects, in particular on the health of women and children.”23
affecting rural women of reproductive age. . . . The Committee urges the State party to put in
place measures for ensuring that safe drinking water is available to all, and particularly to affected
rural women and their families.”).
22
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Thirtieth & Thirty-first sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Belarus, 12-30
January 2004, 6-23 July 2004, U.N. Doc. A/59/38(SUPP), ¶¶ 355 (“The Committee is concerned
at the continuing negative impact of the Chernobyl disaster on women’s health.”); see also
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Forty-eighth session, Belarus, 6 April 2011, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/BLR/CO/7, ¶¶ 32-33
(“The Committee notes with concern the increase in the cases of breast cancer, which accounts
for more than 50 per cent of oncological diseases of women’s reproductive system, the decrease
of the average age of women suffering from breast cancer from 56-60 to 42-46 years, and the
high incidence of breast cancer in areas of the State party contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear
accident and among women born in 1986.”).
23
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Twentysixth, Twenty-seventh & Exceptional sessions, Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention:
Gender and sustainable development, 14 January- 1 February 2002, 3-21 June 2002, 5-23 August
2002, U.N. Doc. A/57/38(SUPP), ¶ 429(j).
13
B.
RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING, INCLUDING THE RIGHTS TO
ADEQUATE HOUSING, FOOD AND SAFE AND CLEAN DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
26.
The right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the rights to adequate
housing, food, and safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, was recognized in Article 25 of
the UDHR24 and further expounded upon by Article 11 of the ICESCR, which states:
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of
everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his
family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the
continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties
will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right,
recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international
co-operation based on free consent.25
Article 14 of CEDAW also recognizes the right to an adequate standard of living, providing that:
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and
benefit from rural development and, in particular, shall ensure to
such women the right . . . [t]o enjoy adequate living conditions,
particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water
supply, transport and communications.26
Interpreting this right in relation to environmental harms, the Committee has focused on three
particular forms of harm: climate change, general environmental degradation and environmental
pollution.
24
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, note 14 supra, art. 25(1) (“Everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including
food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in
the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood
in circumstances beyond his control.”). The right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation,
which had been treated as an implied element of the right to food, was officially acknowledged as
a human right in 2010 by the General Assembly. See General Assembly Resolution 64/292, 28
July 2010, U.N. Doc. A/RES/64/292.
25
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, note 15 supra, art. 11(1).
26
CEDAW, note 1 supra, art. 14(2)(h).
14
27.
The Committee has frequently linked the effects of climate change, including its
influence on extreme weather events and other natural disasters, with adverse impacts on
individuals’ rights to an adequate standard of living. In its 2002 Concluding Observations to
Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Committee found that one of the main factors affecting the State
party’s ability to implement CEDAW was “the hurricanes which frequently devastate the
country, and which in 1998 destroyed 85 per cent of the housing stock.”27 More recently, the
Committee recognized the impact of natural disasters on the rights to adequate housing and food
in its Concluding Observations to Indonesia’s combined fourth and fifth periodic reports. 28
28.
The Committee reiterated its recognition of the relationship between the adverse
effects of natural disasters and extreme weather events and their impact on the enjoyment of an
adequate standard of living in its 2009 statement on Gender and Climate Change, where it
acknowledged the frequent discrimination faced by women in their right to an adequate standard
of living, including housing and communications, during crisis situations resulting from natural
disasters.29
29.
Climate change has also been cited as an obstacle to the consistent production of
food. In its Statement on Rural Women, the Committee noted that agriculture is linked to
poverty eradication, but “[t]he main challenges to agricultural productivity include negative
27
Consideration of reports of States parties: Saint Kitts and Nevis, note 9 supra, ¶ 92.
28
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the ThirtySeventh, Thirty-Eighth & Thirty-Ninth sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties:
Indonesia, 1 January 2007, U.N. Doc. A/62/38(SUPP), ¶ 295.
29
Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Fortyfourth & Forty-fifth sessions, Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women on gender and climate change, 20 July – 7 August 2009, U.N. Doc.
A/65/38(SUPP), ¶ 3.
15
impacts of climate change, natural disasters and man-made disasters, e.g. internal conflicts which
disproportionately affect rural women.”30
30.
Further, the Committee has recognized the relationship between general
environmental degradation and adverse impacts to the right to safe and clean drinking water and
sanitation. In its Concluding Observations to Mongolia in 2008, the Committee expressed its
disapproval over “the specific impact of environmental degradation on the situation of rural
women.”31 The Committee urged the State party to implement an integrated development policy
ensuring that rural women participate in decision-making process, particularly with respect to
environmental issues, and have access to clean water and sanitation services.32
31.
Finally, the Committee has explicitly established that specific acts of
environmental pollution may adversely affect the right to safe and clean drinking water and
sanitation. In discussing dangerous levels of contaminants in groundwater resources, the
Committee’s Concluding Observations to Bangladesh in 2004 stated that the “Committee is
concerned about the impact of the arsenic poisoning of water, which is disproportionately
affecting rural women of reproductive age.”33
30
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Fortyninth, Fiftieth & Fifty-first sessions, Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women on rural women, 2 April 2012, U.N. Doc. A/67/38(SUPP), ¶ 57.
31
See Consideration of reports of States parties: Mongolia, note 18 supra, ¶¶ 35-36.
32
Ibid.
33
See Consideration of reports of States parties: Bangladesh, note 21 supra, ¶¶ 259-260.
16
C.
RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
32.
The right to freedom of movement was recognized in Article 13 of the UDHR34
and further elaborated in Article 12 of the ICCPR, which states:
Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that
territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to
choose his residence.35
CEDAW further recognizes that this right shall, consistent with the non-discrimination
requirement of Article 2, apply to both men and women equally, specifying that:
States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with
regard to the law relating to the movement of persons and the
freedom to choose their residence and domicile.36
33.
The Committee considered the adverse impacts of climate change on the right to
choose one’s residence and domicile in its Concluding Observations to Tuvalu and Papua New
Guinea in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In both instances, the Committee mentioned the fact that
each of these small island States is “very vulnerable” to coastal erosion and rising sea levels as a
result of climate change, and further noted their “particular geographical situation, which poses
restrictions on movement and communication.”37
34.
These statements reflect the Committee’s concern that citizens of these State
parties will be forced to abandon these small island States, resulting in mass displacement and a
34
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, note 14 supra, art. 13(1) (“Everyone has the right to
freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.”).
35
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 U.N.T.S. 302, 16 December 1966
(entered into force 23 March 1976).
36
CEDAW, note 1 supra, art. 15(4).
37
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Forty-fourth session, Tuvalu, 7 August 2009, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/TUV/CO/2,
¶¶ 55-56; Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women for the Forty-sixth session, Papua New Guinea, 30 July 2010, U.N. Doc.
CEDAW/C/PNG/CO/3, ¶ 5.
17
violation of the collective peoples’ right to self-determination.38 Indeed, the Committee’s
Concluding Observation for Tuvalu addressed this very scenario when it mentioned its concern
over the State party’s lack of “disaster management and mitigation plans in place to address
potential internal and/or international displacement.”39
D.
RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
35.
In 1986, the UN General Assembly recognized the right to development in its
Declaration on the Right to Development, which states:
The right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of
which every human person and all peoples are entitled to
participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural
and political development, in which all human rights and
fundamental freedoms can be fully realized.
The human right to development also implies the full realization of
the right of peoples to self-determination, which includes, subject
to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on
Human Rights, the exercise of their inalienable right to full
sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources.40
The common Article 1 of the ICCPR and the ICESCR further expounds on the right to
economic, social, and cultural development as follows:
38
For further discussion of the potential impacts of the effects of climate change on human rights,
see Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the
relationship between climate change and human rights, 15 January 2009, U.N. Doc.
A/HRC/10/61, ¶ 40 (“Sea level rise and extreme weather events related to climate change are
threatening the habitability and, in the longer term, the territorial existence of a number of lowlying island States. Equally, changes in the climate threaten to deprive indigenous peoples of
their traditional territories and sources of livelihood. Either of these impacts would have
implications for the right to self-determination.”).
39
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Forty-fourth session, Tuvalu, note 37 supra, ¶¶ 55-56.
40
Declaration on the Right to Development, 4 December 1986, U.N. Doc. A/RES/41/128, art. 1.
18
All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that
right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development.41
36.
CEDAW expressly provides for a similar right to development in its Article 3,
which states that:
States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political,
social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures,
including legislation, to ensure the full development and
advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the
exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms
on a basis of equality with men.
And in Article 14, CEDAW calls on State parties to eliminate discrimination against women in
rural areas to ensure that they participate in and benefit from the elaboration and implementation
of rural development.42
37.
The Committee has reiterated that women’s participation and contributions are
indispensable when developing specific measures to counteract environmental degradation to
ensure that their right to development is not affected.43
41
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, note 15 supra, art. 1;
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, note 35 supra, art. 1.
42
CEDAW, note 1 supra, arts. 3, 14(2).
43
See Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention: Gender and sustainable development, note
23 supra, ¶ 429(h), (j), & (k); see also Concluding Observations of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Forty-ninth session, Djibouti, 2 August
2011, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/DJI/CO/1-3, ¶¶ 37-38 (expressing concern that rural women are
particularly affected by, among other things, adverse climatic conditions such as drought and
recommending that the State party continue efforts to create income-generating activities for
women in rural areas, including providing pastoralist women and men whose herds are being
decimated due to drought and poverty with alternative livelihoods).
19
III.
OBLIGATIONS ON STATES RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT
38.
As previously discussed, CEDAW does not explicitly provide for a human right
to a healthy environment, and the Committee has not read it to unequivocally establish such a
right. Nonetheless, as illustrated in Part II of this report, the Committee has recognized
numerous instances where environmental degradation and exploitation, as well as the impacts of
climate change, can have substantial and serious adverse impacts on a range of human rights
under CEDAW. As a result, it is possible to draw connections between other existing rights and
certain obligations owed by State parties in relation to the protection of the environment.
39.
International human rights law recognizes duties on States that correspond to each
human right. The duties owed for any given right are often characterized as entailing three
components: an obligation to respect the human right by refraining from interfering with an
individual’s enjoyment of it, an obligation to protect the human right by preventing the violation
of that right by State parties or non-State actors, and an obligation to fulfill the human right by
enacting procedures and mechanisms to enable people to enjoy the right.44 In the context of the
non-discrimination requirements of Article 2 of CEDAW, the Committee has adopted a “respect,
protect, promote, fulfill” framework, which necessitates that a State party:
44
See, e.g., General Recommendation No. 24 on Women and Health (Article 12) by the Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 5 February 1999, U.N. Doc.
A/54/38/Rev.1, ¶ 7 (“The duty of States parties to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and
women, access to health-care services, information and education implies an obligation to
respect, protect and fulfil women's rights to health care. States parties have the responsibility to
ensure that legislation and executive action and policy comply with these three obligations. They
must also put in place a system that ensures effective judicial action. Failure to do so will
constitute a violation of article 12.”); General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food (art. 11)
by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 12 May 1999, U.N. Doc
E/C.12/1999/5, ¶ 15 (“The right to adequate food, like any other human right, imposes three types
or levels of obligations on States parties: the obligations to respect, to protect and to fulfil. In
turn, the obligation to fulfil incorporates both an obligation to facilitate and an obligation to
provide.”).
20
40.
(a)
Abstains from performing, sponsoring or condoning any
practice, policy or measure that violates the Convention
(respect);
(b)
Takes steps to prevent, prohibit and punish violations of the
Convention by third parties, including in the home and in
the community, and to provide reparation to the victims of
such violations (protect);
(c)
Fosters wide knowledge about and support for its
obligations under the Convention (promote);
(d)
Adopts temporary special measures that achieve sex nondiscrimination and gender equality in practice (fulfil).45
To the extent that environmental harm might adversely impact or impede the full
enjoyment of human rights, State parties may have duties under CEDAW to respect, protect,
promote and fulfill such rights in respect of such harm, even though CEDAW does not expressly
articulate a right to a healthy environment. As described above, the Committee has considered a
number of situations where environmental degradation has affected the enjoyment of certain
human rights. It has also set out procedural and substantive obligations that CEDAW imposes
on State parties as a result. These obligations are discussed below.
A.
PROCEDURAL OBLIGATIONS
41.
The Committee has discussed procedural obligations on State parties in relation to
environmental harm. These procedural obligations include duties to (a) allow participation in
environmental decision-making, (b) provide environmental information, and (c) allow access to
remedies (or justice).
45
General Recommendation No. 28, note 8 supra, ¶ 37.
21
1.
42.
Obligation to allow participation in environmental decision-making
The right to public participation informs the duty of State parties to allow
participation in decision-making. This right can be traced both to Article 21 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, which provides for the right to each person to take part in the
government of one’s country,46 and to Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, which states that every citizen shall have the right to take part in the conduct of
public affairs.47
43.
The Committee parallels this approach in its interpretation of State parties’
obligations to allow women to participate in environmental decision-making. In its Statement on
Rural Women, the Committee emphasized to all State parties, and the United Nations system as
a whole, the importance of and need for:
[i]ntegrally incorporating women’s concerns and participation in
the planning, implementation and monitoring of all development
and environmental management programmes to ensure women’s
involvement, which is necessary for their benefit as well as for the
achievement of sustainable development. . . .48
The Committee has suggested that this includes an obligation to ensure that:
the promotion of gender equality and sensitization to gender
equality issues is an explicit component of, and is fully
implemented in, [the States parties’] national development plans
and policies.49
46
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, note 14 supra, art. 21.
47
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, note 35 supra, art. 25.
48
Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on rural
women, note 30 supra, ¶ 58.
49
Consideration of reports of States parties: Indonesia, note 28 supra, ¶ 295.
22
Additionally, several of the Committee’s comments have indicated that this obligation also
entails a duty to ensure that women have adequate and comparable access to the resources that
would permit their equal participation in developing these policies and programs.50
44.
In addition to a general obligation to ensure equal participation, State parties’ duty
to promote and facilitate the participation of women in policies and programs can be broken
down further within the issues of climate change, development, and relief from natural disasters.
In the context of climate change, the Committee has explicitly stated that State parties must
guarantee the right of women to participate at all levels of decision-making in policies responsive
to climate change. It concluded:
From the Committee’s examination of the reports of States Parties,
it is apparent that climate change does not affect women and men
in the same way and that it has a gender-differentiated impact.
Women are not just helpless victims of climate change, however.
They are powerful agents of change, and their leadership is critical.
All stakeholders should ensure that climate change and disaster
risk reduction measures are gender-responsive and sensitive to
50
See, e.g., Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on
rural women, note 30 supra, ¶ 58 (“The Committee calls upon all Member States and the United
Nations . . . to increase rural women’s overall empowerment and their contributions to
agricultural productivity and eradication of poverty and hunger, in particular by . . . [e]nsuring
rural women’s equal, easy and affordable access to productive resources, energy, water, land use
and ownership and property, environmentally sound technologies . . . .”); Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Forty-second session, Mongolia, note 18 supra, ¶ 36 (“The Committee urges the State party to
pay special attention to the needs of rural women by implementing an integrated rural
development policy, ensuring that rural women participate fully in decision-making processes, in
particular, on environmental issues, and have access to health, clean water and sanitation services,
without discrimination.”); Consideration of reports of States parties: Indonesia, note 28 supra, ¶
295 (“The Committee . . . urges the State party to pay special attention to the needs of rural
women, ensuring that they participate in decision-making processes and have full access to legal
aid, education, health services and credit facilities.”); see also General Recommendation No. 27
on older women and the protection of their human rights, Report of the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh & Forty-eighth
sessions, 12-30 July 2010, 4-22 October 2010, 17 January-4 February 2011, U.N. Doc. A/66/38, ¶
25 (“Older women’s limited access to resources and decision-making processes increases their
vulnerability to climate change.”).
23
indigenous knowledge systems and that they respect human
rights.51
45.
The Committee expounded on the requirement to promote and facilitate the equal
participation of women in its discussion of Tuvalu’s responses to the adverse impacts of
environmental and climatic change. Its Concluding Observation to the State party emphasized
that women should be involved throughout entire process of developing disaster management
and mitigation plans.52
46.
The Committee has further referenced State parties’ obligations in the context of
non-weather-related natural disasters. In regard to the tsunami disaster that occurred in SouthEast Asia in 2004, the Committee stated:
Proactive steps must be taken to ensure that women and girls living
in the affected communities as well as local women’s groups and
women community leaders and government officials are full, equal
and effective participants in all relief, rehabilitation and
reconstruction efforts, including in the distribution of assistance of
all kinds.53
51
See Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on gender
and climate change, note 29 supra, ¶ 1. This also requires codifying this right at the intergovernmental level, as the Committee has stressed that equal participation and accounting for the
differentiated impacts on women should be incorporated into various international agreements.
See ibid. ¶ 5.
52
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Forty-fourth session, Tuvalu, note 37 supra, ¶ 56 (“The Committee recommends
that the State party develop disaster management and mitigation plans in response to the potential
displacement and/or statelessness arising from environmental and climatic change and that
women, including women in the outer islands, be included throughout the planning processes and
adoption of such strategies.”).
53
Statement by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in regard to the
tsunami disaster that occurred in South-East Asia on 26 December 2004, Report of the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Thirty-second & Thirtythird sessions, 31 August 2005, U.N. Doc. A/60/38(SUPP), ¶ 2. The Committee’s statement in its
Concluding Observations to Tuvalu, note 37 supra, indicate that these obligations are consistent
regardless of whether the natural disaster can be attributed solely to the adverse impacts of
environmental degradation (i.e., is weather-related).
24
It is clear that this natural disaster was not a direct result of environmental harm caused by
human activity.54 However, the procedural obligations of State parties to ensure the full
implementation of their citizens’ rights regarding responses to disaster, including the right to
equal participation, would appear to be the same regardless of the cause of the disaster.
47.
Another essential duty of State parties is to facilitate the equal participation of
women in the development of policies and programs aimed at sustainable development. In its
General Recommendation on women in political and public life, the Committee emphasized that
women’s inclusion and participation, along with the integration of a gender perspective and
women’s human rights, should be critical components to the agenda for all international bodies
in this increasingly globalized world.55 The Committee has also recognized the need for equal
participation among rural women by highlighting the importance of their participation “as critical
agents of development such as agricultural producers, entrepreneurs and managers of natural
resources.”56 Elsewhere, the Committee has reiterated that women’s participation and
contributions are indispensable, when developing specific measures to counteract environmental
degradation, to ensure that their right to development is not affected, including measures to
mitigate the impact of natural disasters and implement sustainable approaches to manage the
preservation of forests.57
54
Nevertheless, elevated sea levels caused by climate change amplify the degree of damage caused
by non-weather-related natural disasters, such as tsunamis.
55
See General Recommendation No. 23 on Women in Political and Public Life by the Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1 January 1997, U.N. Doc. A/52/38/Rev.1, ¶
39.
56
See Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on rural
women, note 30 supra, ¶ 58.
57
See Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention: Gender and sustainable development, note
23 supra, ¶ 429(h), (j), & (k).
25
48.
The Committee has also called on international organizations to ensure the equal
participation of women in international bodies, including with respect to environmental issues.58
The Committee has stated:
The globalization of the contemporary world makes the inclusion
of women and their participation in international organizations, on
equal terms with men, increasingly important. The integration of a
gender perspective and women's human rights into the agenda of
all international bodies is a government imperative. Many crucial
decisions on global issues, such as . . . development and the
environment . . . are taken with limited participation of women.
This is in stark contrast to their participation in these areas at the
non-governmental level.59
2.
49.
Obligation to provide environmental information
The rights to freedom of opinion and to seek, receive and impart information
inform the scope of State parties’ obligation to provide access to information. Article 19 of the
UDHR provides that:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media
and regardless of frontiers.60
Similarly, Article 19 of the ICCPR states:
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right
shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or
in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his
choice.61
58
See General Recommendation No. 23, note 55 supra, ¶ 39.
59
Ibid. (emphasis added).
60
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, note 14 supra, art. 19.
61
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, note 35 supra, art. 19.
26
50.
The obligation to provide environmental information often requires the collection
and use of sex-disaggregated data to promote gender-sensitive programs and policies that protect
women’s rights, which in turn will enhance State parties’ capabilities in disaster reduction,
mitigation, and adaption to climate change.62 The Committee called on State parties to collect
and provide such sex-disaggregated information on the specific impact of environmental
degradation on rural women in its Concluding Observations to Mozambique and Mongolia, so
that measures could be enacted based on the State parties’ findings.63
51.
State parties also owe a duty to provide access to environmental information
where specific acts of pollution cause adverse effects to the environment. The Committee noted
in its Concluding Observation to Bangladesh its concern over the impact of arsenic poisoning
from its water, and it recommended that the State party “launch an awareness campaign and
proactive health, nutrition and social programs for affected rural women, their families and the
local communities.”64 Similar situations in the Concluding Observations to Belarus and
Paraguay resulted in recommendations that the State parties undertake comprehensive research
on the impact of specific environmental contaminants on the health of women citizens.65
62
See Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on gender
and climate change, note 29 supra, ¶ 4.
63
See Consideration of reports of States parties: Mozambique, note 18 supra, ¶¶195-196 (“The
Committee further recommends that the specific impact of environmental degradation on rural
women be evaluated and that the solutions and policies adopted take such evaluations into
account.”); Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women for the Forty-Second session, Mongolia, note 18 supra, ¶¶ 35-36 (“The
Committee further expresses its concern about the specific impact of environmental degradation
on the situation of rural women. . . . The Committee requests the State party to include in its next
report sex-disaggregated data and information on the de facto position of rural women.”).
64
Consideration of reports of States parties: Bangladesh, note 21 supra, ¶¶ 259-260.
65
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Fiftieth session, Paraguay, note 20 supra, ¶¶ 32-33 (“The Committee
recommends the State party to . . . [u]ndertake a comprehensive study on the probable negative
27
52.
Finally, the Committee has suggested that State parties may owe an obligation to
provide information on the impact of natural disasters on women. The Committee’s Concluding
Observation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2005 reflected its disapproval over
the insufficient explanation of the impact of natural disasters and widespread famine on women,
including on rural women in particular. The Committee highlighted its concern that women
impacted by the natural disasters and famine may have become vulnerable to trafficking and
other forms of exploitation.66
3.
53.
Obligation to provide access to remedies (or justice)
The ability to enforce one’s human rights through access to justice is an essential
component of State parties’ obligation to protect human rights. The Committee has provided
limited discussion of access to remedies relating to environmental harm. In its Concluding
Observations to Bangladesh in 2004, the Committee expressed its concern about the impact of
arsenic poisoning of water on rural women, and called on the State party to encourage all of the
other actors that directly or indirectly caused the crisis to share in the burden of compensating the
victims.67
causes of the misuse of agro-toxic products in agriculture in order to implement the necessary
measures to eradicate their impact on the health of women and their children.”); Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Forty-eighth session, Belarus, note 22 supra, ¶¶ 37-38 (“The Committee notes with concern . . .
the high incidence of breast cancer in areas of the State party contaminated by the Chernobyl
nuclear accident and among women born in 1986. . . . The Committee recommends that the State
party . . . [c]onduct further research on the connection between the increase of oncological
diseases such as breast cancer and radiation in areas contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear
accident.”).
66
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Thirtysecond & Thirty-third sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties: Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, 31 August 2005, U.N. Doc. A/60/38(SUPP), ¶ 59.
67
See Consideration of reports of States parties: Bangladesh, note 21 supra.
28
B.
SUBSTANTIVE OBLIGATIONS
54.
The Committee has also discussed substantive obligations owed by State parties
in relation to environmental harms. To date, these references have generally focused on State
parties’ duties to (i) implement policies and measures that address the impact of environmental
harms while ensuring equal treatment of men and women, and (ii) engage in further research on
the adverse impacts of certain environmental harms.
1.
Obligation to enact non-discriminatory environmental policies and
measures
55.
The Committee has outlined State parties’ duties to enact environmental policies
and measures to prevent general environmental harms, to respond to crisis situations resulting
from natural disasters, and to facilitate the State parties’ mitigation of and adaptation to climate
change and its effects. In each of these situations, the Committee’s discussion has focused on the
importance of acting in a gender-responsive and non-discriminatory manner.
56.
The Committee has repeatedly called on State parties to introduce measures to
protect the environment where environmental harms are affecting other rights.68 In the context
of the right to health, for example, the Committee’s Concluding Observations to Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan called on the governments “to design and implement a sound environmental policy
aimed at protecting the health of women and children.”69 Elsewhere, the Committee has
suggested that sustainable forest management systems should be developed to protect the rights
68
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Twenty-fourth & Twenty-fifth sessions, Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention: Gender
and sustainable development, 1 January 2001, U.N. Doc. A/56/38, ¶ 385 (“The Committee has
requested States parties to introduce policies and programmes to . . . improve the environmental
and living conditions of women and children, and of girls in particular . . .”).
69
Consideration of reports of States parties: Kazakhstan, note 17 supra, ¶ 106; Consideration of
reports of States parties: Uzbekistan, note 12 supra, ¶ 186.
29
of women – and particularly of rural women – to their land.70 Finally, the Committee has urged
State parties to enact policies to facilitate the enjoyment of the right to development for women
facing poverty due to environmental causes.71
57.
The Committee has also explained that the duty of State parties to enact policies
and procedures in response to environmental harms entails an equally essential obligation to
ensure such measures afford equal protections to the rights of women. In the states of
emergency that accompany natural disasters, the Committee has recommended that the State
party:
Ensure that the development and implementation of policies and
programmes on disaster preparedness, response to natural disasters
and impacts of climate change, as well as other emergencies, are
based on a comprehensive gender analysis, and mainstream the
concerns of women, particularly those of rural women.72
70
See Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention: Gender and sustainable development, note
23 supra, ¶ 429(h).
71
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Forty-ninth session: Djibouti, note 43 supra, ¶ 38 (“The Committee recommends
that the State party continue its efforts to [c]reate income-generating activities for women in rural
areas; [p]rovide pastoralist women and men whose herds are being decimated due to drought and
poverty with alternative livelihoods. . . .”).
72
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Fifty-first session, Grenada, 23 March 2012, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/GRD/CO/1-5, ¶ 36;
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Fifty-second session, Jamaica, 6 August 2012, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/JAM/CO/6-7, ¶ 32
(“The Committee recommends that the State party . . . [e]nsure that the development and
implementation of policies and programmes on disaster preparedness, response to natural
disasters and the impacts of climate change, as well as other emergencies, are based on a
comprehensive gender analysis, and mainstream the concerns of women, particularly those of
rural women, in all policies and programmes.”); see also General Recommendation No. 28, note
8 supra, ¶11; Statement by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
in regard to the tsunami disaster, note 53 supra, ¶ 2 (“In the wake of the tsunami, the genderspecific needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls must be identified and addressed in all
responses to the humanitarian and recovery needs.”) and ¶ 5 (“The Committee urges that the
ongoing efforts be used as a window of opportunity to ensure that the promotion of gender
equality is a central pillar in the reconstruction and development of the affected communities and
that a gender perspective is integrated in all humanitarian efforts.”).
30
58.
The Committee has further addressed State parties’ duty to enact measures
tailored to the specific rights impacted by natural disasters. In the Concluding Observations for
Indonesia, the Committee noted adverse impacts to citizens’ rights to adequate housing and food
and urged the State party to:
take appropriate measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination
against women with respect to access to housing and food aid in
emergency and natural disaster situations and to ensure that
women in these situations are adequately protected from
violence.73
The Committee addressed its concerns over the forced displacement that frequently accompanies
natural disasters in its Concluding Observations to Tuvalu, providing in relevant part that:
The Committee recommends that the State party develop disaster
management and mitigation plans in response to the potential
displacement and/or statelessness arising from environmental and
climatic change and that women, including women in the outer
islands, be included throughout the planning processes and
adoption of such strategies.74
59.
Finally, State parties owe a duty to enact environmental policies and measures
that facilitate their mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and its effects. In its
Statement on Gender and Climate Change, the Committee called on all stakeholders to:
ensure that climate change and disaster risk reduction measures are
gender-responsive and sensitive to indigenous knowledge systems
and that they respect human rights.75
The Committee expounded on what is required of State parties to ensure that climate change
policies and measures are appropriately gender-sensitive:
73
Consideration of reports of States parties: Indonesia, note 28 supra.
74
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Forty-fourth session, Tuvalu, note 37 supra, ¶¶ 55-56.
75
Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on gender and
climate change, note 29 supra, ¶ 1.
31
Sex-disaggregated data, gender-sensitive policies and program
guidelines to aid Governments are necessary to protect women’s
rights to personal security and sustainable livelihoods. Policies
that support gender equality in access, use and control over science
and technology, formal and informal education and training will
enhance a nation’s capability in disaster reduction, mitigation and
adaptation to climate change.76
Gender-sensitive policies and measures alone may be insufficient if they do not include the
development of meaningful information about the particular vulnerabilities of the State party’s
women or if they fail to provide equality in access to the resources required to address the effects
of climate change.
2.
Obligation to engage in further research on the adverse impacts of
certain environmental harms
60.
Just as State parties are required to engage in research to ensure that large-scale
environmental policies are gender-sensitive, the Committee has indicated that they should
equally engage in research when specific environmental contaminants are found to be adversely
affecting citizens’ rights, particularly with regard to their right to health. For example, the
Committee’s Concluding Observations to Paraguay found that the State party’s measures to
regulate the use of agro-toxic products were insufficient and called on the government to:
[u]ndertake a comprehensive study on the probable negative causes
of the misuse of agro-toxic products in agriculture in order to
implement the necessary measures to eradicate their impact on the
health of women and their children.77
76
Ibid. ¶ 4. The Committee also emphasized that “[g]ender equality is essential to the successful
initiation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of climate change policies.” Ibid. ¶ 6.
77
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Fiftieth session, Paraguay, note 20 supra, ¶ 33.
32
Similarly, the Concluding Observations to Belarus called for further research on the connection
between the radiation found in areas contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the
increased incidence of breast cancer.78
C.
OBLIGATIONS RELATING TO MEMBERS OF GROUPS IN VULNERABLE
SITUATIONS
61.
State parties owe specific – and often heightened – duties to women who are
members of certain vulnerable groups. As the Committee noted in its General Recommendation
on the core obligations of State parties under Article 2 of CEDAW, recognition of the multiple
discriminations to which women are frequently subject is essential to an understanding of State
parties’ obligations under CEDAW. The Committee describes this concept of multiple
discriminations, otherwise known as “intersectionality,” as follows:
[D]iscrimination of women based on sex and gender is inextricably
linked with other factors that affect women, such as race, ethnicity,
religion or belief, health, status, age, class, caste and sexual
orientation and gender identity. Discrimination on the basis of sex
or gender may affect women belonging to such groups to a
different degree or in different ways to men.79
The Committee explained that State parties must legally recognize these types of multiple
discriminations and their “compounded negative impact” on the women affected and prohibit
them through policies and programs designed to eliminate such occurrences through all
appropriate means, including (when appropriate) through temporary special measures adopted in
accordance with Article 4 of CEDAW.80
78
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Forty-eighth session, Belarus, note 22 supra, ¶ 38.
79
See General Recommendation No. 28, note 8 supra, ¶ 18.
80
See ibid. ¶¶ 18, 23.
33
62.
The Committee has highlighted certain of the particularly vulnerable groups of
women that face multiple discriminations in its Statement on Gender and Climate Change:
[C]limate change has differential impacts on societies, varying
among regions, generations, ages, classes, income groups and
occupations, as well as across gender lines. Women are the main
producers of the world’s staple crops, but they face multiple
discriminations such as unequal access to land, credit and
information. Particularly at risk are poor urban and rural women
who live in densely populated coastal and low-lying areas,
drylands and high mountainous areas and small islands. Vulnerable
groups such as older women and disabled women and minority
groups such as indigenous women, pastoralists, nomads and
hunters and gatherers are also of concern.81
The Committee has discussed the specific obligations owed by State parties to members of
several of these vulnerable groups, including older women, rural women, women who have been
displaced or affected by natural disasters, indigenous women and young girls.
1.
63.
Obligations of State parties owed to older women
The Committee has recognized that older women are especially vulnerable to the
adverse impacts of environmental harms, particularly with respect to climate change. In its
General Recommendation on older women and the protection of their human rights, the
Committee explained that older women’s limited access to resources and decision-making
processes is one aspect of their increased vulnerability. In particular, the Committee stated:
Climate change impacts differently on women, especially older
women who, due to their physiological differences, physical
ability, age and gender, as well as social norms and roles and an
inequitable distribution of aid and resources relating to social
hierarchies, are particularly disadvantaged in the face of natural
disasters. Their limited access to resources and decision-making
processes increases their vulnerability to climate change.82
81
Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on gender and
climate change, note 29 supra, ¶ 2.
82
See General Recommendation No. 27, note 50 supra, ¶ 25.
34
64.
Article 2’s requirement of non-discrimination under CEDAW compels State
parties to be particularly attentive to the situations and vulnerabilities of older women so that
policies and measures will be responsive to their specific needs. To address this vulnerability,
State parties should ensure that climate change and disaster risk-reduction measures are sensitive
to the needs and vulnerabilities of older women, including through facilitating the participation
of older women in decision-making for climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.83 In
discussing this duty, the Committee explained that:
States parties have an obligation to ensure the full development
and advancement of women throughout their life cycle, in times of
both peace and conflict, as well as in the event of man-made and
natural disasters. States parties should therefore ensure that all
legal provisions, policies and interventions aimed at the full
development and advancement of women do not discriminate
against older women.84
2.
65.
Obligations of State parties owed to rural women
The Committee has frequently referenced the situation of rural women, both in its
Concluding Observations and in its General Recommendations. As with older women, the
specific situation of rural women demands particular consideration of their vulnerabilities to
ensure that all policies and measures addressing environmental harms fully account for their
unique needs.
66.
The unique needs of rural women are particularly evident in the context of natural
disasters and of climate change and its effects, including extreme weather events. In its
Concluding Observations to Grenada and Jamaica, the Committee noted that rural women are
particularly vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and climate change and called on the
83
See ibid. ¶ 35.
84
Ibid. ¶ 30.
35
State parties to ensure the development and implementation of responsive measures and policies
that would mainstream the concerns of women, particularly those of rural women.85 In its
Statement on Rural Women, the Committee drew the connection between rural women’s role in
agricultural production and the particular vulnerability they face due to the negative impacts of
climate change and natural disasters on agricultural production. Because of this unique situation,
the Committee explained that:
Rural women have a central role in combating these negative
effects and must therefore be involved in all relevant programs
aimed at addressing these challenges including in the preservation
of natural environment and preserving the quality of food.86
67.
The Committee has also referred to the adverse effects that other types of
environmental harm can have on the individual rights of rural women. For instance, the
Committee’s Concluding Observations to Bangladesh called on the State party to prepare a plan
of action to ensure that safe drinking water is available to all, particularly to rural women and
their families that were disproportionately affected by arsenic poisoning of their water. 87 The
Committee further urged the State party to launch an awareness campaign and proactive health
programs for rural women, their families, and the local communities that were affected by the
contaminated water.88 In another example, the Concluding Observations to Djibouti noted the
poverty and food insecurity of rural women that were largely due to adverse climatic conditions,
85
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Fifty-first session, Grenada, note 72 supra, ¶ 36; Concluding Observations of the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the Fifty-second session,
Jamaica, note 72 supra,¶ 32.
86
Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on rural
women, note 30 supra, ¶ 57.
87
Consideration of reports of States parties: Bangladesh, note 21 supra, ¶¶ 259-260.
88
Ibid.
36
such as ongoing droughts. To counteract the particular impact this situation had on rural women,
the Committee requested that the State party create income-generating activities for women in
rural areas and provide pastoralist women and men whose herds were decimated due to drought
and poverty with alternative livelihoods.89
68.
The Committee has also specified the need to ensure the participation of rural
women in decision-making on environmental issues. For example, in its Concluding
Observations to Mongolia in 2008, the Committee stressed the importance of rural women’s
participation in decision-making processes when creating policies on rural development,
particularly to the extent such policies relate to environmental issues.90
69.
Statements of the Committee suggest that State parties may be required to go
further than simply facilitating the participation of rural women in decision-making processes
and making amends where individuals’ rights are violated. Because of the particular situation of
rural women, many of the resources that are essential to ensuring consistent and meaningful
participation are not always available. As a result, the Committee has suggested in various
Concluding Observations that State parties should take action to provide rural women with
access to, inter alia, environmentally sound technologies, in connection with efforts to facilitate
rural women’s participation and incorporate their specific needs.91
89
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Forty-ninth session: Djibouti, note 43 supra, ¶¶ 37-38.
90
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Forty-Second session, Mongolia, note 18 supra.
91
See, e.g., Consideration of reports of States parties: Mozambique, note 18 supra, ¶¶ 195-196;
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Forty-Second session, Mongolia, note 18 supra, ¶ 36; Consideration of reports of States
parties: Indonesia, note 28 supra, ¶ 295; Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women on rural women, note 30 supra, ¶ 3.
37
70.
Finally, the Committee has indicated that State parties’ obligation to ensure non-
discrimination entails a duty to engage in a thorough review of the particular vulnerabilities of
rural women. In its Concluding Observations to Mozambique, the Committee recommended that
the State parties research the specific impact of environmental degradation on rural women and
take the findings into account when structuring solutions and policies that address the
environmental harms.92 The Committee’s Concluding Observations to Paraguay requested a
similar analysis of the likely causes of the misuse of agro-toxic products, so that the government
could implement responsive measures to eliminate the products’ impact on the health of rural
women and their children.93
3.
71.
Obligations of State Parties to women displaced or affected by natural
disasters
Particular attention must be paid to identifying and responding to the specific
vulnerabilities of women and girls who have been displaced or otherwise impacted by natural
disasters. In its Concluding Observations to Tuvalu, the Committee recommended that the State
party:
develop disaster management and mitigation plans in response to
the potential displacement and/or statelessness arising from
environmental and climatic change and that women, including
women in the outer islands, be included throughout the planning
processes and adoption of such strategies.94
The Committee emphasized that a gender perspective should be integrated in all
sustainable development policies and plans taken by the State party.
92
See Consideration of reports of States parties: Mozambique, note 18 supra, ¶¶ 195-196.
93
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Fiftieth session, Paraguay, note 20 supra, ¶ 33.
94
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
for the Forty-fourth session, Tuvalu, note 37 supra, ¶ 56.
38
72.
The Committee has provided additional guidance in the context of the tsunami
disaster that occurred in South-East Asia in 2004. The Committee noted that:
Proactive steps must be taken to ensure that women and girls living
in the affected communities as well as local women’s groups and
women community leaders and government officials are full, equal
and effective participants in all relief, rehabilitation and
reconstruction efforts, including in the distribution of assistance of
all kinds.95
Further, it explained that all humanitarian and recovery responses should identify and address the
gender-specific needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls. The Committee expressed its
particular concern with regard to gender-based violence, sexual abuse and trafficking of women
and girls following the disaster. The Committee called on State parties to ensure that all those
who abuse women and girls in this situation of particular vulnerability “be brought to justice and
severely punished.”96
4.
73.
Obligations of State parties to indigenous women
The Committee has also addressed the need for policies and measures addressing
climate change and other environmental harms to incorporate the perspective of indigenous
women.97 In its Statement on Gender and Climate Change, the Committee called on
95
Statement by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in regard to the
tsunami disaster that occurred in South-East Asia on 26 December 2004, note 53 supra, ¶¶ 2-3.
96
Ibid. ¶ 4.
97
See Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for the
Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh & Exceptional sessions, Consideration of reports of States parties:
Suriname, 14 January- 1 February 2002, 3-21 June 2002, 5-23 August 2002, U.N. Doc.
A/57/38(SUPP), ¶ 65 (expressing concern about the situation of rural women, in particular the
indigenous Amerindians and the Maroons, who are disadvantaged by environmental pollution).
39
stakeholders to “ensure that climate change and disaster risk reduction measures are genderresponsive and sensitive to indigenous knowledge systems and that they respect human rights.”98
74.
The Committee also discussed the rights of indigenous women to access the
natural resources of their lands. In its Concluding Observations to Indonesia, the Committee
expressed its disapproval over the violation of the rights of indigenous women to access their
land, water and natural resources. The Committee urged the State Party to “ensure [indigenous
women’s] security and enhance their enjoyment of human rights and ensure access to land and
natural resources for indigenous women, through all available means, including temporary
special measures.”99
5.
75.
Obligations of State Parties to young girls
Finally, the Committee has suggested that State parties owe specific obligations to
young girls. In its Annual Report on the 25th Session, the Committee explained that it has
requested State parties to introduce policies and programs to “improve the environmental and
living conditions of women and children, and of girls in particular.”100 One year later, the
Committee’s Annual Report on the 26th Session again highlighted that youth may be an
important basis for multiple discrimination, when emphasizing that sustainable development
98
Statement of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on gender and
climate change, note 29 supra, ¶ 1.
99
See Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women for the Fifty-second session, Indonesia, 7 August 2012, U.N. Doc.
CEDAW/C/IND/CO/6-7, ¶¶ 45-46.
100
Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention: Gender and sustainable development, note 68
supra, ¶ 385.
40
requires that “policies and measures be developed to mitigate the adverse effects of natural
disasters on women and children.”101
76.
One area of particular vulnerability that the Committee has discussed is young
girls’ elevated risk of exploitation. In its Concluding Observations to the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea, the Committee called attention to the impact of widespread famine and
natural disasters on young girls. It expressed concern over the insufficient explanation as to the
effects of these phenomena on them, specifically noting the possibility that they may be
particularly vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation, including prostitution.102
IV.
CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES: HUMAN RIGHTS DUTIES, THE ENVIRONMENT
AND NON-STATE ACTORS
77.
The Committee has made clear that non-State actors are capable of damaging the
environment in a manner that adversely impacts the rights of women. In such instances,
CEDAW requires State parties “to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination
against women by any person, organization or enterprise.”103 State parties may be held
responsible where they “fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights or to
investigate and punish acts of violence.”104
78.
Adverse impacts caused by non-State actors have been particularly evident with
respect to the right to health, where environmental contaminants have been repeatedly linked to
101
Implementation of Article 21 of the Convention: Gender and sustainable development, note 23
supra, ¶ 429.
102
Consideration of reports of States parties: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, note 66
supra.
103
General Recommendation No. 19 by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women, U.N. Doc. A/47/38, ¶ 9.
104
Ibid.
41
negative consequences for women’s enjoyment of the right to health.105 The Committee’s 2005
and 2011 Concluding Observations for Paraguay highlighted the risk posed by the use of certain
agricultural products, including fertilizers, pesticides and other agro-toxic products, whether by
individuals or business entities. To address these dangers, State parties must develop – with the
equal participation of women – policies and measures that enhance access to environmentally
sound technologies without the harmful side effects. Studies should be undertaken concurrently
by the State parties to determine the causes of the misuse of these products, so that measures can
be implemented to protect the health of women and their children.106
V.
CONCLUSIONS
79.
Despite the lack of an explicit right to a healthy environment, the Committee has
made clear that CEDAW obligates State parties to take certain steps to protect a number of its
rights when those rights are threatened or impaired by harm to the environment. State parties
have clear substantive and procedural obligations to ensure the participation of, and nondiscrimination against, women in developing and implementing measures and policies that
protect the environment and attempt to mitigate and adapt to the adverse human-rights impacts of
environmental degradation.
80.
The Committee has also increasingly focused on recognizing climate change and
its effects on the environment, including through rising sea levels and extreme weather events, as
a significant cause of adverse human-rights impacts. There has been a continued emphasis on
ensuring that women are not only participating in prevention, adaptation and mitigation policies
and measures, but also on ensuring that women are the beneficiaries of these measures on the
105
See, e.g., Consideration of reports of States parties: Romania, note 19 supra, ¶ 314.
106
See note 20 supra.
42
same level as men. It is even more important that these policies and measures adequately
consider and address the specific vulnerabilities of women subject to multiple discriminations,
including older women, rural women, women who have been displaced or affected by natural
disasters, indigenous women and young girls.
81.
Despite the Committee’s substantial progress in outlining State parties’
obligations to prevent and remedy environmental degradation affecting their citizens’ rights,
there are still many areas where further explanation would be useful. For instance, the
Committee has yet to consider through Committee Decisions or Inquiry Report procedures under
the Optional Protocol a State party’s existing human rights obligations in relation to adverse
impacts caused by environmental degradation. Similarly, the Committee has provided little
discussion of the rights of individuals to remedies and access to justice in the context of
environmental harms. At present, any guidance in this area remains limited to State parties’
obligation to provide redress for violations of rights in contexts other than the environment.
82.
Another area that would benefit from additional clarification relates to the
substantive research and analysis that State parties are urged to undertake when enacting
measures to address adverse environmental impacts, including with respect to the effects of
environmental harm on particularly vulnerable women.107 The Committee has suggested that a
State party may owe a due diligence obligation to ensure that the proposed measures’ impacts do
not discriminate against women, but the scope and depth of the review required to satisfy its
obligations – particularly with respect to particularly vulnerable groups – would benefit from
further elaboration.
107
See Part II(B)(2) supra.
43
83.
Another area where further consideration is merited relates to the scope of State
parties’ transboundary obligations. The issue of transboundary obligations is especially
important because environmental degradation is seldom confined to the territorial borders from
within which it emanates. Further, the question of whether State parties may be permitted, or
even required, to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over non-State actors that are adversely
impacting the rights of their citizens may become an increasingly important issue for the
Committee to address as the pace of global development continues to accelerate.
44