Sosyal Politika Seminerleri 2017-2018: A silent pandemic - the human rights impacts of a toxic environment

Social Policy Seminars

2017-2018-II-4

Başkut Tuncak

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Toxics

 “A silent pandemic - the human rights impacts of a toxic environment”

March 28th (Wednesday), 2018

14:30-16:30

Nafi Baba Building, Room 103  (South Campus)

In 1972, the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment explicitly recognized the link between human rights and the environment.  Yet, in the ensuing decades, the impacts of pollution, contamination and land use changes on these rights have increased side-by-side with economic development.  The increasing attention to the linkage between human rights and environmental degradation is creating new opportunities to prevent and redress environmental violations.  However, in the discourse, the question of when exposure to pollution and other hazardous substances is a violation of human rights remains largely unexplored.  In the presentation, the UN Special Rapporteur will illustrate the toxic injustice that persists around the world, and how a rights-based approach to hazardous substances can help drive efforts towards a safer, cleaner and healthier environment.

Baskut Tuncak is the current UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights implications of hazardous substances and wastes, also informally known as the Special Rapporteur on “toxics,” appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2014. Mr. Tuncak is an attorney and chemist specializing in toxic chemicals and international law. He is currently a researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and founder a non-profit consultancy on human rights and the environment.  

Social Policy Seminars are designed to bring together influential or promising researchers in social policy and the Boğaziçi University community to discuss current issues and up-to-date research findings in the field. Seminars are organised as part of the Graduate Seminar course leading to a Master of Arts degree in Social Policy. All members of the Boğaziçi University community are welcome to attend.