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Why climate change is a threat to human rights - Mary Robinson

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Universal Human Rights

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Climate change is unfair. While rich countries can fight against rising oceans and dying farm fields, poor people around the world are already having their lives upended — and their human rights threatened — by killer storms, starvation and the loss of their own lands. Mary Robinson asks us to join the movement for worldwide climate justice.

Reflect on the speaker's journey from growing up in a family setting to becoming a national leader. How do you think her early life experiences influenced her presidency and her approach to human rights?

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About Universal Human Rights

In 1948 the United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that laid out a common standard of fundamental rights to be universally protected. But how much do you know about the rights and freedoms everyone, everywhere - including you - is entitled to? Explore this page to learn more about the history, philosophy and practice of ensuring universal human rights, brought to you in partnership with the Open Society Foundations.

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  • Video created by TED
  • Lesson Plan created by Cheney Munson

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