We are very happy of answering the kind call for inputs made by Mrs. Karima Bennoune the Special Rapporteur of United Nations in the field of cultural rights and climate change, for the report that she will be presenting at the General Assembly, in October 2020. We do it from the archives and human rights perspective. Here is the contribution prepared by the Section on Archives and Human Rights of the International Council on Archives (ICA-SAHR). The submission responds to the following two questions posed by the Special Rapporteur:
1. What negative impacts of climate change on culture, heritage and the enjoyment of cultural rights by all have been documented in your context? Are particular groups, such as women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, rural persons or peasants, and youth or future generations, as well as cultural practitioners being impacted in specific and disproportionate ways? What efforts are being undertaken to inventory and monitor such impacts?
2. Are cultural sites or resources which are critical to participation in cultural life identified as being threatened due to climate change and if so, how? What processes are used to analyse the risk of harm or inaccessibility to these areas and resources? Are records being kept about these risks and impacts?
We also enclose an annex regarding the information to be collected in our work about archives in risk.