20 June 2024

Australian Statement

Thank you President for hosting this important discussion. 

The challenges posed by climate change and food and health insecurity continue to have a detrimental impact on the capacity of individuals around the world to enjoy their human rights. These impacts disproportionately affect those who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and inequality, including Indigenous women and girls, people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, and people living with disabilities.

Australia is continuing to take concrete steps to address the impacts of climate change and to improve food and health security, contributing to the protection and promotion of human rights.

We are working with our friends and partners in the region to better understand the nexus between climate and health. Domestically, we launched our first ever climate and health strategy, in which our Minister for Health declared that ‘good climate policy is good public health policy’ – this is a guiding principle for our approach.

Australia remains firmly committed to strengthening global health architecture, with the World Health Organization at its core, to ensure it remains fit for purpose and responsive to emerging health threats. This will contribute to greater protection of human rights.

We remain committed to working with the international community to deliver a successful pandemic agreement to ensure that we, and future generations, are better prepared to respond to threats to global health security.

Australia recognises the acute impacts of climate change on our neighbours in the Pacific, including on their human rights. Through the Shifting the Power Coalition, we are helping to expand and strengthen women-led early warning information and communication mechanisms in the Pacific, which will better prepare the region for extreme weather events and health emergencies. We are supporting communities to adopt climate-resilient growing methods that overcome soil salinity and drought conditions in Tuvalu and Kiribati to increase food security.

Australia looks forward to continuing to engage in important discussions on global efforts to address the impacts of climate change and food and health insecurity on human rights. We continue to urge the meaningful inclusion of all voices in these important discussions, including Pacific Island Countries and Indigenous Peoples.