Human Rights & Indigenous Peoples

4 March 2009: The UN Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the International Alliance of Women, IUCN, the UN Environment Programme, the Gender and Climate Change Alliance, the Heinrich Boll Foundation and the Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics, held an event on “The Climate Change Negotiations: an Action Agenda” on 3 March 2009, at UN Headquarters, in New York, US. The event was held in parallel to the 53rd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW53), which is convening from 2-13 March 2009.

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26 February 2009: During a visit to Maldives, from 18-25 February 2009, Raquel Rolnik, the UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, underlined the importance of the international community's role in supporting climate change adaptation strategies.

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February 2009: The Inuit Circumpolar Council, in partnership with the UN Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Chirapaq Centro de Culturas Indigenas del Peru, the International Indian Treaty Council, the Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organization, the Organization of American States, and the Conservation Society of Pohnpei, will host the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change from 20-24 April 2009, in Anchorage, Alaska.

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27 January 2009: The 2009 Humanitarian Action Report was launched in Geneva, Switzerland, by UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann Veneman and UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Sigrid Kaag. The Report highlights the plight of children and women around the globe in humanitarian emergencies, such as conflict situations and natural disasters.

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8 January 2009: In an address to the UN Security Council, António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), warned of new forms of displacement, with natural disasters on the rise due to climate change.

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18 December 2008: The UN has launched a year-long advocacy campaign to help millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs), which represent 1% of the world's population, focusing on mitigating the impact of conflict and natural disasters.

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December 2008: As the world celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2008, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has stressed that a wide range of universally recognized rights – such as the right to food, to adequate housing and water, and to life – are under threat due to climate change. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on the Poznań Climate Change Conference to take into account the human rights impacts of climate change, and to protect the most vulnerable people.

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21 November 2008: UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, in an address to the Sixth African Development Forum, emphasized that, while many African countries have experienced economic growth in recent years, glaring gender disparities remain.

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20 November 2008: A press conference on issues relating to

gender and climate change was held on 20 November 2008, at UN Headquarters, New

York, US, to recap a two-day meeting organized by the Global Gender and Climate

Alliance (GGCA) on how women could receive financial support for their

activities to mitigate or adapt to climate change.

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12 November 2008: In

an address to the Global Indigenous Peoples Consultation on Reducing Emissions

from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), taking place from 12-14

November 2008, in Baguio City, the Philippines, Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention

on Biological Diversity (CBD), highlighted the opportunity for indigenous and

local communities to contribute to the formation and implementation of possible

solutions to climate change, such as REDD schemes, to ensure that their

traditional knowledge, rights and biological diversity are protected and

enhanced in the process.

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