In December 2023, on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, CIEL joined a diverse, people-powered, global coalition in making history at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The Global Coalition of Civil Society, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements, and Local Communities, of which CIEL is a leading member, was awarded the prestigious UN Human Rights Prize for the successful campaign securing the universal recognition of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
The prize — the UN’s highest human rights honor — is the culmination of decades of movement building, legal advocacy, and policy diplomacy that CIEL has fostered and supported. The historic recognition of the coalition highlights the crucial role and power of collective organizing in shaping international policy and underscores the paramount importance of the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. We are putting the formal recognition of this right to work: it is already informing legal precedent and advancing accountability around the globe while supporting people, communities, and movements demanding their rights to a safe climate and a livable future.
In Europe, we are working to convert the right to a healthy environment into law at the Council of Europe — the only regional human rights framework that has yet to recognize this right legally.
With partners, we mobilized 400+ civil society organizations to urge the Council of Europe to recognize this vital right.