Realizing the ‘greening’ of human rights: The water resources perspective
How can we progressively realize the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment to better protect water resources – including groundwater, wetlands, and the oceans? SIWI’s Swedish Water House organizes a webinar to discuss the steps for implementation and enforcement of this right.
This webinar is the second in a series in which we explore how to advance the application of a human rights-based approach that safeguards all water-related human rights and ensures that no one is left behind. The first webinar in the series was held in January 2022.
You are warmly welcome to join us for this discussion!
Agenda:
Welcome and introduction:
- Jenny Grönwall, Advisor Water Policy & Rights, and HRBA focal point at SIWI
Keynote speaker:
- Jonas Ebbesson, Professor in Environmental law at Stockholm University
Panelists:
- Léo Heller, Researcher and former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation
- Hannah Neumeyer, Head of Human Rights at WASH United and lead in the Make Rights Real consortium
- Jessica Troell, Senior Attorney and Director of the International Water and Africa Programs at the Environmental Law Institute
Youth perspective:
- Georgette Mrakadeh-Keane, Content manager and Youth Empowerment Focal Point at SIWI
About the webinar
In the past year, the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly have recognized that having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right.
Those acknowledgements are important also to address water resources pollution and overuse, as well as to protect water supplies and water-dependent ecosystems.
While 150 states already recognize different types of claims to a sustainable and healthy environment in regional agreements, national legislation and policies, the right to a healthy environment requires more effective and ambitious implementation at the national level.
The main responsibility now lies with governments to act – by passing and enforcing environmental laws and policies that are of relevance also in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to ensure access to information, public participation, and remedies.
Speakers and panelists
Jonas Ebbesson is Professor of Environmental Law, former Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Director of Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre, at Stockholm University. He is former Chair (2011-21) of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee.
Léo Heller was the former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation (2014-2020). Heller is currently a researcher in the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil.
Hannah Neumeyer is the Head of Human Rights at WASH United and leads the Make Rights Real consortium. She is a human rights lawyer specialized in economic, social and cultural rights, with 15+ years of experience in rights-based development cooperation.
Jessica Troell is a Senior Attorney and Director of the International Water and Africa Programs at the Environmental Law Institute. Ms. Troell has over 20 years of experience in international development and environmental law with a focus on sustainable water resource management.
Georgette Mrakadeh-Keane is a Content Manager at SIWI. She is also the Youth Empowerment focal point at SIWI, advocating for the rights of young voices throughout our projects and processes.