After the disappointing outcome of COP29, the global community is awaiting to gather at South Korea’s Busan for the much anticipated final session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5). The meeting is aimed at drafting an international treaty to end plastic pollution over the course of its entire lifecycle, including its impact on the marine environment.
United Nations on Global Plastics Treaty
The Global Plastics Treaty is scheduled between November 25 to December 1 in South Korea’s Busan. Experts from the United Nations has stated that the upcoming agreement must secure accountability from stakeholders in all stages of the plastic cycle. The elaborated by saying that this means that plastic producers must recognise their role in creation of plastic waste, and must make contributions to a global fund.
“This fund should operationalise the polluter-pays principle and support implementation of effective waste management measures and technologies suitable to protect human rights in the specific context of developing countries, especially in small island developing States and least developed countries burdened by plastic pollution,” stated an official press statement attributed to the experts from the United Nations.
“It should also cover the clean-up of the toxic legacy of plastics, including the island-sized plastic gyres in the marine environment,” it added.
Focus of Negotiations must be on Plastic Producing Countries
The UN experts noted that the current direction of the negotiations to produce a new international treaty on plastic pollution risks shifting responsibility from plastic-producing countries to developing counties that lack the capacity or resources to confront the global plastic scourge.
“Plastic producers, and the States where they are based, are not doing their part in addressing the global adverse impacts on human rights,” the experts opined.
Human Rights at the Centre
They underlined that the legally binding instrument under negotiation must include explicit references to human rights to properly frame effective and legitimate solutions.
The experts argued the treaty should also reflect key human rights principles, including transparency, prevention and accountability.
“Every stage of the plastic cycle generates plastic pollution that threatens the effective enjoyment of human rights. The mandate given by the UN Environment Assembly to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee was clear: the instrument under negotiation must address the full lifecycle of plastic,” the press statement further explained.
Phasing out the non-essential plastic products
The press statement mentioned that the plastic product designs must enable both the phase-out of non-essential plastic products as well as chemically safe recycling.
“This is particularly important for developing countries that lack economies of scale and rely on imports,” it mentioned.
Taking into account the prevailing disparities, the experts highlighted that a human rights-based approach in tackling plastic pollution also demands access to remedies, especially for those people who suffer disproportionate impacts from plastic pollution.
“A legitimate and just transition to ending plastic pollution necessitates placing human rights at the core of the legally binding instrument under negotiation,” the experts stated.
