The United Nations Human Rights Council will investigate whether plastic pollution violates human rights.
During the council’s 56th session, which took place June 18-July 12, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru submitted a draft resolution called "Plastic pollution implications on the full enjoyment of human rights." The bill was also supported by France, Israel, Luxemburg and Portugal. It was adopted unanimously by the Council’s 47 members.
The decision calls on the Council’s advisory committee, which functions as a think tank, "to prepare a comprehensive study on the implications of plastic pollution for the full enjoyment of human rights, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic."
The committee is required to present the study to the Council during its 66th session, in 2027. It should consider the views and inputs of states, U.N. agencies, human rights institutions, indigenous peoples, civil society, human rights defenders, the private sector, academia, and scientific institutions.
It is the first time a UN body has decided to investigate the impacts of plastic pollution on human rights. The decision is likely to please environmental groups which have been protesting for the plastic treaty to take a human rights-based approach.
The draft resolution noted the work of the intergovernmental negotiating committee for a global plastics treaty "with appreciation" before going on to request the Human Rights Council advisory committee to prepare its own study.
Associations like Human Rights Watch have argued that the draft plastics treaty "lacks the necessary provisions to protect human rights and health from the impacts of plastic pollution, especially for frontline communities and those who are most vulnerable."
The organization claims, for example, that recycling is not a solution to the plastic crisis because it allegedly releases pollutants and toxins into local environment, threatening the health of those working in and living nearby recycling facilities.
Industry groups, on the other hand, favor a plastic treaty that endorses more legislation to improve recycling rates, like extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs for packaging and deposit return systems (DRS) for bottles.
Advocacy groups argue that a plastic treaty that protects human rights takes steps to decrease resin production, ends production of unnecessary virgin plastic, and increases transparency about additives.
The UN Human Rights Council is the principal UN intergovernmental body responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights and for addressing and taking action on human rights violations around the globe. It consists of 47 member states elected directly and individually by a majority of the 193 states of the UN General Assembly.