Toxics, Zero Waste, Women and Human Rights | HRC57 Side Event

In the framework of the 57th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC57), taking place in Geneva from 9 September to 11 October 2024, the Republic of Türkiye, Sierra Leone, and Suriname, together with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights and the Geneva Environment Network convened a side event focusing on toxics, zero waste, women and human rights. The event was co-sponsored by Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Panama, Costa Rica, Maldives and the Dominican Republic.

GAHP's Highlights

The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution engages in global advocacy and provision of technical expertise to countries in need, to build political consensus and capacity to achieve desired outcomes.

Gender equity, social inclusion and poverty alleviation are the goals of our work, given that women and local communities are most affected by pollution.

9 million people are killed each year due to pollution, and 92% of the deaths occur in low- and middle- income countries. However, very little funding is allocated for development assistance in pollution. We provide evidence and data to countries to enable them to invest the right resources and ultimately generate economic benefits.

Our main model of work, the Health and Pollution Action Plan (HPAP), is a multi-stakeholder group that puts collaboration with countries at the core and is run in more than 13 countries today. In this process, local governments first assess and study existing national policies and make sure that prioritization is done based on public health risks. The alliance then designs a road map to address specific needs.

The alliance also seeks financial support to run the programs in cases where countries lack the capacity to do so at the national level.

Photo credits: Geneva Environment Network