The Malé Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change is a

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

made by representatives of several

Small Island Developing States The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a grouping of developing country, developing countries which are small island country, island countries and small states that tend to share similar sustainable development challenges. These include s ...

who came together to sign the declaration in November 2007. The Declaration's goal was to lay out a clear strategy to link climate change and human rights together. The Declaration also sought to change the agenda of the campaign to combat climate change from focusing on only the environmental impacts of climate change to also taking into account the human rights impacts of climate change. The Declaration makes clear that the

right to a healthy environment The right to a healthy environment or the right to a sustainable and healthy environment is a human right advocated by human rights organizations and environmental organizations to protect the ecological systems that provide human health. The ri ...

is a prerequisite of all other basic human rights. The

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

, one signatory of the Declaration and whose capital

Malé Malé is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 211,908 in 2022 within its administrative area and coterminous geographical area of , Malé is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city i ...

lends its name to the document, climate change has already begun to affect the human rights of the population. As such, the

and other island nations have begun to construct an international coalition which uses human rights as a framework for combating climate change. The coalition in question has organized meetings on the topic of the Declaration in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and Malé.

United Nations

Signatories of the Declaration asked the

UN Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The ...

to focus its attention on the impacts of climate change and human rights. In response, the

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

published the first study identifying specific ways in which climate change interferes with the full enjoyment of human rights, emphasizing that countries have a duty to work together to protect human rights from climate change. Specifically, the report highlighted several basic rights which were in danger, including rights to life,

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, an adequate standard of living, and

self determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

References

{{Reflist Climate change treaties Environmental treaties Malé 2007 documents Foreign relations of the Maldives

United Nations

See also

References