CHR holds inquiry into climate change’s impact on human rights

Commissioner Roberto Eugenio Cadiz of the Commission on Human Rights (Photo from his Facebook page)

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will hold its formal inquiry on Tuesday concerning a complaint against the so-called “carbon majors” allegedly accused of contributing to climate change and violation of human rights.

“The inquiry asks if climate change impacts human rights and, if so, whether ‘carbon majors’ have a responsibility for it,” Commissioner Roberto Eugenio T. Cadiz, who chairs the said national inquiry, said in a statement.

Carbon major companies are producers of oil, natural gas, coal and cement. Most of them are non-state, transnational entities, the CHR said.

The first of a series of the hearings will be held from Tuesday and Wednesday.

The process, according to CHR, consists of research and data gathering (site visits, fact-finding missions, community dialogues, and consultations with experts and other National Human Rights Institutions); public hearings; and developing recommendations.

The inquiry also aims to promote the objective that “businesses have an obligation to respect human rights.

“The Commission fully recognizes the principle of territoriality in regard to the exercise of jurisdiction over any state or party and does not attempt to disregard the same. It merely seeks to inquire if climate change impacts human rights and, if so, whether the ‘carbon majors’ [and other duty bearers] have a responsibility therefore,” the CHR said. /jpv

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