The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr Tony Ojukwu, SAN, has called on governments and other stakeholders to mainstream human rights into policies and responses to climate change.

Ojukwu made the call on Tuesday in Abuja while speaking with journalists at the opening of a three-day training programme for staff members of the commission on climate change.

The training, with the theme, “Human Rights and Climate Change,” was organised by the NHRC in partnership with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ojukwu said human activities were largely responsible for contributing to the effects of climate change, stressing the need for human rights considerations to be incorporated into efforts to address its consequences.

According to him, the training was designed to equip NHRC staff with the knowledge and skills to establish the link between climate change and human rights and identify situations in which climate-related developments could affect or violate people’s rights.

He said climate change was closely connected to the enjoyment and protection of human rights.

“We can see that the temperature levels are also changing. The farming season is changing and so on and so forth.

“Now, when we talk about climate change, we are looking at what the human rights impacts are. What are the impacts on the human rights of the people?

“For instance, if they are getting through heat, people may get uncomfortable. People may now have to go to hospital. If there is flooding, people may have their houses destroyed and they will lose their property,” he said.

Ojukwu added that flooding could expose communities to waterborne diseases, thereby creating serious health challenges.

He said such consequences had implications for fundamental rights, including the rights to life, health and livelihood, as businesses and sources of income could also be destroyed by climate-related disasters.

“As an institution which is established for the promotion and protection of human rights, it is our duty to care about how climate change affects the people,” he said.

Ojukwu explained that the NHRC was preparing its personnel for an expected increase in complaints arising from the impact of climate change on communities and individuals.

“Now that these changes are coming, we train our staff members, sensitise them because there are going to be new complaints coming to them every day, arising from issues connected to climate change.

“So, as an institution, we are trying to get ready to face the kind of complaints we are going to get as a result of complaints relating to human rights violations arising out of climate change,” he said.

The NHRC executive secretary urged governments to involve human rights institutions and experts in the formulation and implementation of climate policies.

“Our message to governments is that we need to mainstream human rights into government response to climate change and they need to carry the Human Rights Commission along.

“They need to carry human rights experts so that we can see the far-reaching implications, not only the physical, but the human rights implications, because the rights of people are going to be impacted,” he said.

Ojukwu also called for a holistic approach to addressing climate-related challenges, including the development and implementation of a comprehensive national climate change policy.

He said the existing national policy on climate change should be reviewed to ensure that human rights considerations were properly incorporated.

“So, the life and rights of the people will be protected by the policy,” he said.

Speaking virtually, the Chief Adviser at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Ms Maria Poppins, said the institute was partnering with the NHRC because of the importance of climate change to human rights protection and development.

Poppins said climate change was already undermining development gains and the realisation of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

“So, as we know, climate change is already undermining development gains and rights fulfilment, including all economic, social and cultural rights.

“In the light of the seriousness of the bleak climate projections, it’s quite disheartening to follow the slow pace of the global climate negotiations and the emissions reductions,” she said.

She said the training would focus on the role the NHRC could play in protecting communities that were most severely affected by climate change and had the least influence over the formulation of climate policies and the allocation of responsibilities among government agencies.

Poppins expressed the hope that participants would leave the programme better equipped and motivated to address the growing challenges posed by climate change to the realisation of human rights in Nigeria.

She said the training should inspire and empower NHRC staff to use a human-rights-based approach in responding to the effects of climate change, particularly among vulnerable communities.