CIEL welcomes the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women that the United Kingdom consider adopting a ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Such a ban is the best and surest way to protect the human rights of affected communities and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Adopted on International Women Day and released this week, this recommendation acknowledges the compound dangers of fracking, those that damage local communities directly and those that exacerbate the global climate crisis, which often affect the same communities and exacerbate human rights violations and environmental injustice. As noted by the Committee, this often disproportionately affects women and girls.
This is the second recent recommendation by a human rights body stressing the threat posed by the continued expansion of fracking. Last year, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made a similar recommendation to the government of Argentina regarding its intention to develop the Vaca Muerta shale formation. These recommendations bring international recognition by formal human rights institutions to what has been known by communities for years: fracking is dangerous for communities and the climate, and it poses a fundamental threat to human rights.
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Note to editors:
Recommendations adopted by the CEDAW as a result of the review of the UK’s legal obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discriminations Against Women
| 52. (…) In addition, while Committee commends the measures taken in Wales and Scotland to halt the practice of hydraulic fracturing to extract fossil fuels, known as fracking, it is concerned that women in rural areas in other territories of the State party are disproportionately affected by the harmful effects of fracking, including exposure to hazardous and toxic chemicals, environmental pollution, and climate change.
53. Recalling its general recommendations No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women, the Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Adopt inclusive and accessible measures to facilitate women and girls access to education, employment, healthcare services and support services in rural areas, including by ensuring their access to transportation and Internet, as well as their participation in decision-making processes regarding rural development; (b) Review its policy on fracking and its impact on the rights of women and girls, and consider introducing a comprehensive and complete ban on fracking; (c) Ensure the equal participation of rural women and girls in policymaking processes on disaster mitigation and climate change, in line with its general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. |