BERLIN (AP) 鈥� The top United Nations human rights official said Friday that it's important to protect the 鈥渃ivic space鈥� for to highlight the urgency of tackling climate change.
Volker T眉rk, who heads the U.N.'s human rights office, said that while the world still has a lot of work to do curbing global warming, even the progress made wouldn't have been achieved without youth protests.
鈥淚 think we should all be eternally grateful to the young people that mobilize, that advocate, that make us aware of what, in fact, their lives are going to be if we are not taking action today,鈥� he told a news conference in Geneva.
鈥淎nd we should make sure that the civic space for them is protected and safeguarded, and not crack down in a way that we have seen in many parts of the world,鈥� T眉rk added.
There have been growing calls in , , Australia and elsewhere to stop activists from blocking roads and airports in protest against the harmful effects of car and plane travel.
Germany's transport minister, Volker Wissing, said Thursday that activists who tried to , causing minor delays at one of them, 鈥渉ave nothing to do with legitimate protest.鈥�
He called for the state to 鈥渞esolutely defend itself against these criminals,鈥� arguing that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions need to be backed by a democratic majority.
T眉rk, the U.N. official, described climate change as "the biggest challenge of our times.鈥�
鈥淚t affects enjoyment of all rights,鈥� he said 鈥� a position increasingly shared by some courts.
T眉rk said recent landmark rulings in and the , which concluded that failure to prevent dangerous climate change will harm the human rights of young people and future generations, show the issue is 鈥渞eally about inter-generational justice.鈥�
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