MHR Student Talks Climate Advocacy and Lessons Learned From COP28

Natika Kantaria, a second-year MHR student, attended the 28th UN Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai as a member of the University of Minnesota’s Observer Delegation. In an article published by Open Global Rights, Kantaria criticizes party delegates’ failure to consider their human rights obligations in the COP28 negotiations and calls on state actors to acknowledge the intersectionality of climate change and work to remedy hardships placed on vulnerable communities. Kantaria advocates for the need to incorporate human rights language in the practice of environmental advocacy and urges the prioritization of states’ international human rights commitments in climate negotiations, in order to better strengthen international cooperative efforts and combat rising global temperatures. 

Kantaria is a Public Voices Fellow on Advancing the Rights of Women and a Fulbright Scholar. She has worked on various human rights advocacy campaigns through projects funded by the Council of Europe, European Union, USAID, SIDA, OSF, and NDI.

Read Natika Kantaria’s expert analysis in her article, “Transforming climate advocacy: Lessons learned from COP28.”