DUBAI, UAE, December 8, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- At the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance (RHRN), a multi-year international climate justice initiative supported by global partner United Nations Human Rights (UNHR), announced the University of Oxford has been selected as Right Here, Right Now Academic Partner. As part of the multi-year initiative, the prestigious university will co-host the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit with UNHR. The global summit in Oxford, UK will include satellite events staged by supporting universities around the world, as well as an all-star awareness concert co-hosted by the Recording Academy®, United Nations Human Rights, and the University of Oxford.

“With our well-established and world-leading expertise in climate related research, the University of Oxford is proud to be the Academic Partner for the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to co-host this pivotal summit, bringing together leaders in human rights and climate research from around the world, across a wide range of disciplines, with the common goal of finding solutions to one of the most pressing issues of our times, climate change,” said Irene Tracey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford. 

RHRN and UNHR unveiled the first iteration of the Human Rights Climate Commitments (HRCC), a groundbreaking initiative for rights-based climate action inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments. This global initiative facilitated by UNHR and the University of Colorado Boulder is based on the specific human rights obligations and responsibilities of states and other actors, including businesses. The HRCC are tailored to specific human rights duty-bearers, including states, sub-national governments, businesses, and educational institutions. They will be updated periodically to reflect the latest science and highest standards creating a continually self-renewed virtuous cycle of opportunities for duty-bearers to increase the ambition of their commitments to rights-based climate action. In the build-up to COP29, duty-bearers will be asked to take on these commitments and announce their pledges. Pledges will be monitored for compliance and the results will be publicly reported. The HRCC has been shepherded by S. James Anaya, Distinguished International Law Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a former UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. 

RHRN also revealed that its celebrity driven COP28 campaign for climate justice commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights including Demi Lovato, Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, Carole King, Laura Pausini, Rob Thomas, Jeff Bridges, Chelsea Handler and more has reached over a 300 million social media followers. 

Other RHRN partners represented at the press conference included Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy®, RHRN’s Global Music Partner, and Chantel Sausedo, VP Artist Relations of the Recording Academy.

“We are thrilled that the University of Oxford will serve as the Academic Partner for the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, and co-host the second Right Here Right Now Global Climate Summit next year at Oxford,” said Ben Schachter, Coordinator of the Environment and Climate Change Team at United Nations Human Rights. “The first edition of the Human Rights Climate Commitments being shared today is the product of a consultative, multistakeholder process initiated in the leadup to and informed by the first Right Here Right Now Global Climate Summit organized at the University of Colorado Boulder. We are excited to continue working on these iterative, collective commitments in the years to come through a process of ongoing consultation that will ensure they evolve along with our understanding of climate change and its impacts on human rights.”

“At COP28, we are so pleased to announce the progress that Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance has made in the development of several of our climate justice initiatives, including the Human Rights Climate Commitments, which will provide a unique human rights framework for government and business leaders, human rights advocates, climate experts, and universities to kickstart critical action to address the human rights crisis resulting from climate change. We are also honored that the University of Oxford ‘answered the call’ to become our global Academic Partner and co-host the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit with United Nations Human Rights,” said David Clark, Founder and CEO of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance.

ABOUT RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW GLOBAL CLIMATE ALLIANCE
Since its launch in 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow, the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance has emerged as the largest public-private partnership addressing climate change as a human rights issue, bringing together human rights experts, scientists, corporate leaders, NGOs, academics, advocates, and people around the globe in the fight for rights-based climate action. In addition to the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit and Human Rights Climate Commitments, next year the alliance will introduce more global initiatives with best-in-class partners in sport, music, education, and technology. The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance has garnered support from celebrities that include Leonardo DiCaprio, Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Cher, Jeff Bridges, Camila Cabello, Ellen DeGeneres, Edward Norton, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Pitbull, LL Cool J, Joss Stone, Kesha, and Jack Black, to name just a few. For more information, visit: www.righthererightnow.global

ABOUT UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (“United Nations Human Rights”) is the leading United Nations entity on human rights with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people. Under the leadership of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, with a staff of 1,500 working in more than 100 countries, it aims to make human rights a reality in the lives of people everywhere. For more information, visit: www.ohchr.org