Ocean and Human Rights - Special report

Special Report: The ocean and human rights 

On 3 April 2025, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution on the ocean and human rights. The Council encouraged States to consider the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Conference’s proceedings and outcomes, and to take these principles into account in the run-up to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice in 2025.

In the present report the Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Astrid Puentes Riaño, considers the relationship between the ocean and human rights and why ocean issues are human rights issues. The report will constitute a contribution to understanding the ocean as a single biome and its significance within the framework of human rights, particularly in relation to marginalized people, communities and groups. Also addressed is the importance of a holistic, comprehensive, integrated, gender-responsive and human rights- and ecosystem-based approach to the ocean, with the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment at the centre. The report is aimed at advancing adaptive, inclusive and evidence-based management measures to reduce the vulnerability of the ocean to harms from the triple planetary crisis and their cumulative impact on human rights. The Special Rapporteur also identifies challenges to and opportunities for achieving a healthy ocean and sets out priority recommendations for States, United Nations entities and businesses.

Find the report here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5859-ocean-and-human-rights-report-special-rapporteur-human-right 

In the report the Special Rapporteur warned that ocean degradation is a human rights crisis. She urged the Ocean Conference to embed the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment at every level of decision-making.

About the Special Rapporteur

Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.

Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/