Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE

21h

The call for a legally binding instrument on the right to a healthy environment is resonating across Europe! 🌍⚖️ 1/2

Commissioner for Human Rights@commissionerhr.coe.int

Following my visit to #Norway, I encourage authorities to further safeguard the dignity and #HumanRights of older people in care homes. 🧵

21h

Michael O'Flaherty, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe sounds the bell again: it's time for the Council of Europe to step forward and protect the right to a healthy environment through a legally binding instrument. Let's move from words to action! 2/2

So many calls to the @coe.int to advance the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment and a renewed ambition on climate -- all delivered at this week's session of the @pace.coe.int! 1/5

coe.intParliamentary Assembly: Europe needs treaty on right to a healthy environment - Portal - www.coe.int<p>Binding commitments necessary condition to ensure implementation</p>

A treaty that can bring ambitious action and accountability, all while continuing in the Council’s history of setting norms to fight new human rights challenges. We could not support this call more! Learn more about the session: www.coe.int/en/web/porta... 5/5

So many calls to the @coe.int to advance the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment and a renewed ambition on climate -- all delivered at this week's session of the @pace.coe.int! 1/5

Young advocates like our Campaign member Benjamin Van Bunderen Robberechts and Emilie Tamo Kamguia from the COE Advisory Council on Youth made a compelling case on why climate action matters for young people and children’s rights and the survival of their communities. 4/5

So many calls to the @coe.int to advance the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment and a renewed ambition on climate -- all delivered at this week's session of the @pace.coe.int! 1/5

O’Flaherty’s call was not alone. Prince Albert II of Monaco urged countries to advance recognition of the right to a healthy environment, saying that “protecting nature means safeguarding the very conditions under which the rights we defend today can be exercised tomorrow”. 3/5

So many calls to the @coe.int to advance the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment and a renewed ambition on climate -- all delivered at this week's session of the @pace.coe.int! 1/5

Speaking at a dialogue with young people on the climate crisis, @commissionerhr.coe.int Michael O'Flaherty clearly called on states to “fill the global legal gap” by beginning to draft and promote a binding treaty on the right. 2/5

ICYMI: The @cncdh.fr, France’s national human rights institution, has renewed its call for the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment through a @coe.int binding treaty! 1/4

cncdh.frDéclaration sur l’urgence à reconnaître le droit à un environnement sain par le Conseil de l’EuropeDans une déclaration adoptée le 25 juin 2026 et dans le contexte de la triple crise planétaire, la CNCDH appelle l’ensemble des États membres à reconnaître rapidement le droit à un environnement sain ...

We join the Commission in calling on all European States to move forward so that the Council of Europe can deliver on its mandate to protect the human rights of all in Europe! ➡️ www.cncdh.fr/actualite/de... 4/4

ICYMI: The @cncdh.fr, France’s national human rights institution, has renewed its call for the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment through a @coe.int binding treaty! 1/4

It also clearly stresses how starting work on a binding treaty would allow the Council to align with recent legal developments like the United Nations’ recognition of the right and the International Court of Justice’s climate advisory opinion. 3/4

ICYMI: The @cncdh.fr, France’s national human rights institution, has renewed its call for the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment through a @coe.int binding treaty! 1/4

In its latest opinion, the Commission welcomed the growing support and diplomatic efforts by several Member States over the past few months to finally secure this protection. 2/4

For decades, the European Court of Human Rights has helped protect people from pollution, environmental degradation and climate harms. Yet, environmental protection under the Convention remains indirect and incomplete. 1/5

healthyenvironmenteurope.wordpress.comFrom Environmental Jurisprudence to the Right to a Healthy Environment: The Need for a Standalone Convention in EuropeBy Sumeyra Arslan and Malgorzata Kwiedacz-Palosz The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, the Convention) does not explicitly recognise the right to a healthy environment. Nevertheless, envir…

It would also ensure that the European human rights framework and institutions are better equipped to address the impact of the planetary crisis on human rights. Read the full piece: healthyenvironmenteurope.wordpress.com/from-environ... 5/5

A new treaty explicitly protecting the human right to a healthy environment would have many benefits for people across the continent -- starting with galvanising national policies and strengthening remedies. 4/5

It would build on the Court's achievements and provide the legal basis needed to meet today's environmental challenges. 3/5

In our new blog, @sumarslan.bsky.social (Child Rights International Network) and Małgorzata Kwiędacz-Palosz (@clientearth.bsky.social) argue for a binding @coe.int treaty on the right to a healthy environment. 2/5

Environmental degradation can no longer be a distant concern for the @coe.int. 🚨 As this summer’s events prove, its consequences are being felt directly in everyday lives, undermining the rights of 700 million people living in the Council’s member states. 1/4

This would answer decades of calls from civil society, experts, parliamentarians, academics, human rights advocates and States demanding real progress. Will Ministers listen to the evidence and stand up for our rights? 4/4

Ministers can finally end a stalemate and start their work so that the law catches up with the biggest challenge of our time, protecting people and nature in the process. 3/4

Today, the Committee of Ministers meets in Strasbourg to discuss future action on the environment. 🤝 There is one decisive step they can take: to finally agree on a mandate to start negotiations of a binding treaty to legally protect the right to a healthy environment! 2/4

27 July

🔥 As fires ravage Europe, the rights of communities on the frontline of environmental & climate breakdown continue to be affected on an unprecedented scale. 🗣 As the @coe.int s Secretary-General @alain-berset.coe.int rightly puts it, the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll must become a reality.

theguardian.comEurope live: French firefighters warn it could take ‘weeks or months’ to extinguish wildfiresFirefighters in France and Spain face another day battling wildfires that have seen hundreds of thousands of people evacuated

27 July

🤸 We join his call on European States to finally start negotiating a legally binding instrument on the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll at the @coe.int. Lost time is inexcusable when the news keeps reminding us of the cost of inaction. ✊ #TheTimeIsNow www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE reposted

24 July

Replying to @ciel.org

The #ICJClimateAO reminded us what collective action can achieve. Now it is time to turn that momentum into action. Join the movement to advance the legal protection of the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll at the @coe through a binding treaty: forms.gle/cqw5iARqX4nJ...

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE reposted

24 July

Replying to @ciel.org

Especially after the #ICJClimateAO, maintaining that gap has become impossible to justify. 500+ civil society organizations are working together (@healthyenvcoe.bsky.social) to ensure that the @coe.int adopts a legally binding instrument protecting this right: healthyenvironmenteurope.wordpress.com

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE reposted

24 July

1️⃣ year ago, the International Court of Justice confirmed that States have binding obligations to respect, protect & fulfill human rights in addressing the climate crisis, incl. the right to a clean, healthy & sustainable environment. A🧵on the #ICJClimateAO& the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll.

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE reposted

23 June

🌍📣 Action alert 📣🌍 From the #HR62 and the Aarhus Convention conference to the @coe, our message is clear: the time to legally recognize the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll in Europe is NOW! 🗓️ June 25 at 1:30 pm 📍Place des Nations, United Nations, Geneva 🇨🇭

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE reposted

12 June

🤝 Civil society advocates gathered in Bonn to call on all 46 Council of Europe member States to take the next step: commit to developing a legally binding Council of Europe instrument on the right to a healthy environment. Read more 👇

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE@healthyenvcoe.bsky.social

From Strasbourg to Bonn, CSOs are clear: the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentFromAll can only be enjoyable in a climate-safe future. To protect people & the planet, States must advance meaningful rights-based climate action & legal protection of the right to a healthy environment at the @coe.int.

At the 1st European Forum on Environmental Defenders, @commissionerhr.coe.int Michael O’Flaherty joined the call for a @coe.int legally binding instrument on the right to a healthy environment! 1/4

The workshop brought together States, the UN independent experts, Council of Europe staff and civil society experts to discuss the value of legally enshrining the right to a healthy environment. 4/4

At the 1st European Forum on Environmental Defenders, @commissionerhr.coe.int Michael O’Flaherty joined the call for a @coe.int legally binding instrument on the right to a healthy environment! 1/4

The Commissioner stressed his commitment to advancing on starting negotiations on this during the expert workshop our Campaign co-organised last week. 3/4

At the 1st European Forum on Environmental Defenders, @commissionerhr.coe.int Michael O’Flaherty joined the call for a @coe.int legally binding instrument on the right to a healthy environment! 1/4

lnkd.inLinkedInThis link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

“Nothing less will match the urgency of the moment and rapidly evolving legal context,” said the Commissioner in his keynote speech ⬇️ lnkd.in/eXqr96D8 2/4

It is #WorldEnvironmentDay, and we have a message for the @coe.int! 1/5

Our hope is to celebrate next year’s World Environment Day in a negotiation room. Will States be able to make that happen? 5/5

It is #WorldEnvironmentDay, and we have a message for the @coe.int! 1/5

Member States must start negotiating this instrument as soon as possible. Across hundreds of groups and movements, the demand is clear: protect our right to a healthy environment in the European human rights framework. 4/5

It is #WorldEnvironmentDay, and we have a message for the @coe.int! 1/5

That is crucial as human rights are at the frontline of environmental impacts as much as of ways to tackle the triple planetary crisis. But one piece of the puzzle remains missing: protecting the right to a healthy environment through a legally binding instrument! 3/5

It is #WorldEnvironmentDay, and we have a message for the @coe.int! 1/5

From developing its first-ever Strategy on the Environment to making sure the European Court of Human Rights’ groundbreaking climate ruling is complied with, the Council is strengthening its action on human rights and the environment. 2/5

As the 1st European Forum on Environmental Human Rights Defenders begins, what should States do to effectively protect the right to a healthy environment across Europe? Our Campaign wanted to discuss the benefits of a @coe.int legally binding instrument for rightsholders & advocates!

European States don't have the option of hesitating anymore. The moment is now to fill the @coe.int’s legal gaps!

👏🏼 In particular, we warmly welcome and commend the strong commitments @commissionerhr.coe.int, Michael O’Flaherty made during the workshop to prioritise the creation of a legally binding instrument recognising the right to a healthy environment at the @coe.int level.

@pace-president.bsky.social, @sumarslan.bsky.social , @kimberedfwi.bsky.social's @sabrinacajoly.bsky.social & @duycks.bsky.social .

We welcomed UN Special Rapporteurs @srenvironment.bsky.social & @michelforst.bsky.social, Hélène Tigroudja, @commissionerhr.coe.int,

Our Campaign organised a workshop with experts & high-level speakers on the legal protection of the right to a healthy environment! We thank Portugal, @repfrancecde.bsky.social, Slovenia & Luxembourg, United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR), @ciel.org & Child Rights International Network - CRIN.

22 May

We join the @commissionerhr.coe.int in welcoming the UN General Assembly resolution endorsing the International Court of Justice’s climate advisory opinion. The ICJ clearly stated the right to a healthy environment is a precondition for all human rights. 1/3

Commissioner for Human Rights@commissionerhr.coe.int

I welcome the landmark #UNGA resolution endorsing the #ICJAO on climate obligations and commend Vanuatu & the Core Group for their leadership. Its adoption is a powerful commitment to the rule of law, human rights and urgent collective action.

pace.coe.intPetra Bayr welcomes UN General Assembly resolution reinforcing states’ climate obligations and the right to a healthy environmentThe adoption yesterday by the UN General Assembly of a resolution on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change sends a strong and timely message: climate action and ...

22 May

This legal clarification stresses the importance of ambitious action to make this a reality in law & practice. We echo @pace.coe.int President Petra Bayr said after the vote: the @coe.int should recognise the right to a healthy environment without delay. 👉 pace.coe.int/en/news/1030... 2/3