ECO can’t seem to get this song out of its head – a catchy tune that hit the charts in 2015 titled “The Paris Preambular Paragraph on Human Rights” released by a collective of 195 geographically diverse singers. Ever since, it pops up at many parties! ECO danced to it at an ACE Work Programme gala in 2021, keeps hearing it at the carbon markets pub, and just two days ago, the DJ of the Loss and Damage Fund Fest threw it in the mix (an unfortunate failed attempt to get people dancing as he was not in the Governing Instrument Room).
It’s a really good song with especially catchy lyrics: it’s about Parties committing to respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights when undertaking climate action. It goes on about all the different meanings that it can have: the rights of Indigenous Peoples, gender equality or intergenerational equity – it’s all there (and more!). Last year – at a big festival in Sharm el-Sheikh – a remix was released, adding a chorus on the Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment, making the song even better than it already was.
ECO can’t get enough of it but is starting to think the collective might be ready for a sequel called “Operationalizing the Human Rights Paragraph.” That could actually be a whole album: a solo about strengthening human rights integration in Nationally Determined Contributions, a disco song about recognizing and respecting Indigenous Peoples rights, jazz tunes about enhancing the collection of age- and gender-disaggregated data, a pop smasher about the needs and experience of the LGBTQ+ community, and finally, some old school rocking around the protection of environmental defenders.
Don’t get ECO wrong, it’s still a good song for listening to on the train and singing in the shower, but we wouldn’t want the collective to start sounding like a broken record. The Human Rights Operationalization record seems like the next platinum album where every song is equally good and doesn’t get skipped, and ECO suggests the very first Global Stocktake Festival announced at the UAE to release it with a bang!