Youth Advocate Represents Global Coalition at 2023 United Nations Human Rights Prize

"Youth say global recognition of the human right to a healthy environment is key for climate justice and planetary peace."

PRESS RELEASE: December 7th, 2023

Shaking up a tradition over half a century old, the United Nations has awarded a Global Coalition of

youth, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, social movements and local communities the

prestigious United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2023.

In a galvanizing moment for human rights, on July 28, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly

adopted resolution 76/300 announcing universal recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy, and

sustainable environment. This General Assembly vote reaffirmed the United Nations Human Rights

Council’s previous recognition of the right on October 8, 2021.

These historic wins represent the combination of more than a decade’s worth of organizing by the

Global Coalition, consisting of over 1,350 entities from 75 countries, and the support of a Core Group

of countries. Six representatives will receive the prize on behalf of the Global Coalition on December

15, 2023 in New York, including Samia Shell, the representative for North America and the global

youth.

The Global Coalition elected Samia to represent the global youth because of her distinct advocacy for

universal recognition of the right to a healthy environment through an environmental and climate

justice lens. She emphasizes that the human right to a healthy environment is the “unspoken assumption” of environmental and climate justice. With COP28 in full force in Dubai, she, the global youth, Indigenous Peoples, and human rights groups are calling for an immediate fossil fuel phase-out based on respect of the human right to a healthy environment.

Samia also highlights that the global youth, human rights defenders, and organizers are calling for

urgent protection of Palestinian’s rights to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The ongoing

conflict in Gaza has reached “apocalyptic” proportions, subjecting those already most vulnerable, the

children and youth, to unsafe drinking and wastewater, hazardous wastes and chemicals, food scarcity,

and devastating environmental degradation.

Despite these hurdles, Samia believes in the power of youth to champion the right to a healthy

environment as a legal tool to address the climate crisis, like the youth plaintiffs in the recent Held v.

State of Montana decision, and like the youth leading the campaign to petition the International Court

of Justice for an advisory opinion on climate change.

As young advocates like Samia demonstrate, youth are not only acutely aware of the existential crises

of climate change and war, but are uniquely equipped to propel the next generations of equitable and

just solutions to these global challenges through human rights.

About Samia: Samia is a youth, Black American woman, model, law student, and advocate for

environmental justice and human rights. As part of the Global Coalition, Samia has organized,

moderated, and delivered speeches at numerous events on the roles of youth, civil society, indigenous

peoples, governments, lawyers, and businesses in recognizing and implementing the right to a healthy

environment. She has served as an intergenerational advisor on children and youth’s rights to a healthy

environment and is a former advisor to the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu on its global campaign to

petition the world’s highest court (the International Court of Justice) for an advisory opinion on

climate change.

Contact: contact.samiashell@gmail.com | All socials @SamiaShell