On Human Rights Day, Indigenous Peoples say “Don’t write off our rights” and implore Ministers joining COP24 to reinstate strong rights language into all aspects of the Paris Rulebook text.
Having achieved a historical success, and important step forward with the adoption of the operationalization of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform on Saturday, the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) is concerned to hear of Parties’ proposal to remove rights language from the text of the Paris Rulebook.
The inclusion of rights-based language is essential for preserving the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as other marginalised groups such as women, youth, and people with disabilities. This news comes as a significant blow, on the 70th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights, which sought to protect and promote the rights of all, and indeed those very groups.
The Paris Rulebook is currently under negotiation at the United Nations 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) Climate Conference in Katowice, Poland, and forms the guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The Rulebook will cover nationally determined contributions (NDCs) from each party; reporting on finance for climate change action; as well as transparency, stakeholder consultations and much more.
Given the significance of the Rulebook in setting the rules of the game for climate action, the prospect of rights language not being explicitly included in the text gives a dangerous opportunity for Parties to violate these rights under the guise of climate action.
With the arrival of Ministers to the COP24 proceedings today, the IIPFCC urges Ministers to intervene and re-establish rights-based language in the Paris Rulebook text, and will host a press conference this evening to detail the further implications of these changes on Indigenous Peoples.
#DontWriteOffOurRights