British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow Kevin Grecksch’s research was recently quoted in a UN report produced by the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. The report addresses the cultural and cultural rights dimensions of the current climate emergency, which have too often been overlooked. In the report, the Special Rapporteur considers the negative impacts of climate change on human cultures and on the enjoyment of cultural rights, and the positive potential of cultures and the exercise of cultural rights to serve as critical tools in responding to the climate emergency. Kevin’s contribution, co-authored with Professor Beatriz Barreiro Carril from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid who is a specialist in the field of international human rights and international law of culture, argues among other things that ‘what started with the Urgenda case, allowing climate litigation, needs to continue as well and include cultural rights concerns, so that the right to take part in decision-making processes, which affect the cultural life of individuals and peoples is respected’.
