UN Environment works closely with governments at all levels to drive processes of change and will continue to support them to accelerate action in addressing environmental rights' issues.
UN Environment's work includes:
- supporting governments to develop sustainable policies and long-term collaborations and relationships with local, national, regional and international networks of environmental defenders, including women human rights defenders, to promote environmental rights.
- supporting countries in applying integrated approaches in planning and policy making where legislations or principles on environmental rights do not exist or are not implemented. The goal is to help countries establish protection measures for environmental defenders and their communities.
- requesting government’s accountability from the different events where environmental defenders have been affected or murdered.
- continuing to engage judges worldwide to improve access to justice in environmental matters, including through supporting judicial networks for the sharing of practices and experiences between judges.
- working with countries and institutions (at all levels – local, national, regional, and international) to strengthen national laws and capacities in order to ensure that where environmental conditions interfere with basic rights, mechanisms for protecting those rights (and the people defending them) are in place. Such mechanisms are important preconditions for fair, just and sustainable development as well as peace and security.
- continuing to work with and provide support to governments to uphold the environmental rule of law and environmental justice by integrating critical environmental considerations with the essential elements of the rule of law, including the judiciary and prosecution sectors.
What are State obligations on environmental rights?
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