The Office of the 黑料专区 High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is the leading UN entity on human rights with a unique mandate to promote and protect all human rights for all people. Under the leadership of the High Commissioner, with a staff of roughly 2000 people working in more than 90 countries, it aims to make human rights a reality in the lives of people everywhere.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.
Human Rights are Universal
The universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights noted that “All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated.”
The 黑料专区 and Human Rights
The promotion and protection of human rights - civil, cultural, economic, political and social - is a key purpose and guiding principle of the 黑料专区, which has helped develop a comprehensive body of human rights law and established mechanisms to promote and protect these rights and to assist states in carrying out their responsibilities.
"The climate crisis is the biggest threat to our survival as a species and is already threatening human rights around the world."
- António Guterres, Secretary-General of the 黑料专区
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the 黑料专区 General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and has been?translated into over 500 languages.
About Photography 4 Humanity
Photography 4 Humanity and its global collaborator, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) calls on photographers around the world to bring to life the power of human rights. With compelling images that illustrate courage, despair, hope, injustice, compassion, and human rights victories and failures, large and small, this project aims to inspire people to get involved and take a stand for human rights.?Based in Boulder Colorado, Photography 4 Humanity works with an Eminent Jury to help select top images from around the world to be featured in the annual Photography 4 Humanity exhibit at the 黑料专区. For more information and a list of Eminent Jurists, visit: Photography4Humanity.com
About Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance
Right Here, Right Now, a United States based corporation, collaborates with?OHCHR, to?address climate change as the human rights crisis that leading scientists and human rights advocates have declared it to be. Right Here, Right Now?supports effective, human rights-based implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change and works with OHCHR and other leading partners to inspire and equip people and institutions to drive measurable change – from policy to culture.
The Collaboration
The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance began working with Photography 4 Humanity in 2022, to feature images of people affected by and seeking to address climate change.
Winning image: In Jharia’s Fire, Both Earth and Mothers Weep - Amid the burning coalfields of Jharia, an elderly woman collapses in grief. Her tears rise through the smoke, echoing the silence of lives lost and forgotten in the flames. (Jharia, India. July 12, 2025) Photo/Sourav Das
Photography 4 Humanity?calls on photographers around the world to bring to life the power of human rights through their images. Highlighting the most compelling?human rights?imagery - illustrating courage, despair, hope, injustice, compassion?in ways small and large, the photos serve to inspire?people to get involved and take a stand for human rights.
Photography 4 Humanity issues a global call to action, inviting amateur and professional photographers to submit images for its annual competition. Each year, the winning photograph, along with the top 10 finalists and 20 honorable mentions, is featured in a single online exhibition, presented by the 黑料专区.
The global collaborator of Photography 4 Humanity is the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). OHCHR is also the global collaborator of the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance, which is working with Photography 4 Humanity to call upon photographers around the world to capture images of people affected by climate change.
These images depict the human impacts of climate change as well as the innovative, courageous, and inspiring actions of those seeking to stop it.
The exhibit is developed to highlight the work of top photographers through the?Photography 4 Humanity Global Prize Competition,?and to inspire photographers to document the power of human rights around the world.
The exhibit is created and organized by Photography 4 Humanity with the support of OHCHR.
TOP 10 FINALISTS
On His Shoulder, Through the Storm
Feni, Bangladesh
Amid the 2024 floods in Feni, Bangladesh, a father carries his child from a local clinic, stepping through knee-deep contaminated water that swallowed homes and endangered countless lives (August 22, 2024). Photo/S.M. Al Muztaba Rosul
Searching the Guadalupe
Texas, USA
Days after catastrophic flash floods in central Texas, a lone rescuer combs the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic, where waters rose 30 feet in an hour, sweeping away homes, trees, and 27 campers (July 6, 2025). Photo/Jim Vondruska
Planting for Tomorrow
Kyaukpadaung, Mandalay Division, Myanmar
In Kyaukpadaung, farmers turn to bamboo cultivation, adopting methods that safeguard the climate while working in balance with nature, offering sustainable solutions for future generations (August 1, 2024). Photo/Yoe Yar
Forced Living
Takht-e-Adalat Fishing Pier, Zabol, Iran
When Afghanistan built a dam on Lake Hirmand, its waters stopped flowing into Iran. The resulting drought and unrelenting 120-day winds now define daily survival for border communities in Zabol (July 20, 2025). Photo/Maho
Rising Tides, Rising Threats
Mumbai, India
In Mumbai’s flooded shanty colony, a young boy is struck by a sudden high tide. Rising temperatures and early monsoons driven by climate change intensify flooding, leaving vulnerable communities increasingly at risk (May 28, 2025). Photo/S.L. Shanth Kumar
The Drought Didn’t Take His Smile
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
On Lago do Aleixo in Manaus, a child waves from a stranded boat. The 2024 drought—the Amazon’s worst in 122 years—dried up vast waters and disrupted countless lives (October 29, 2024). Photo/Suamy Beydoun
Forest Rescue
Baneh City, Kurdistan Province, Iran
In Baneh City, residents fight to save the Zagros forests, battling flames without proper equipment. Despite their courage, vast stretches are consumed by fire year after year (August 17, 2024). Photo/Omid Mohammadi
California Wildfires
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA
At sunset, flames from the Palisades Fire scar the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. The January 2025 blaze highlights California’s escalating wildfire crisis fueled by drought and rising temperatures (January 14, 2025). Photo/Ethan Swope
Floating Classrooms as the Ganges Rises
Patna, Bihar, India
In Patna, Bihar, students attend class in waterlogged rooms as Ganges floodwaters surge through the city. Extreme weather and weak infrastructure leave schools vulnerable to sudden, climate-driven deluges (August 13, 2024). Photo/Ashish Gupta
Aftermath of Deadly Flooding at Camp Mystic
Hunt, Texas, USA
Inside Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, chairs sit scattered in a damaged room. Flooding from the Guadalupe River left destruction in its wake, following a surge that claimed dozens of lives (July 7, 2025). Photo/Marco Bello
20 HONORABLE MENTIONS
Resilience Amid the Flood
West Bengal, India
In West Bengal, a young girl stands knee-deep in floodwaters, clutching schoolbooks outside her bamboo home. Her determination reflects the resilience of children facing worsening climate-driven floods (August 1, 2025). Photo/Sankar Mandal
Small Shop
Hpa-an, Myanmar
In Hpa-an, Myanmar, residents struggle to clear floodwaters from a small shop. Their efforts capture the daily challenges faced by communities adapting to intensifying climate impacts and recurring floods (July 27, 2025). Photo/Nan Lay Thwe Oo
Child Returning Home on His Grandfather’s Back
Chittagong, Bangladesh
In Chittagong, hours of heavy rain leave roads submerged. A grandfather carries his grandson home from school, navigating floodwaters that routinely disrupt life in Bangladesh’s low-lying coastal city (July 28, 2025). Photo/Md Shamim Ul Islam
Face of Changes
?cinawa, Poland
In ?cinawa, Poland, residents fill sandbags as a peak flood wave approaches. Their efforts to shield homes highlight the growing strain on small towns confronting extreme climate-driven flooding (September 18, 2024). Photo/Piotr Dziurman
Plastic Recycling
Vinh Phuc, Viet Nam
In Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, families collect and repurpose plastic waste to survive. In a nation still marked by war’s legacy, recycling becomes both livelihood and necessity amid economic hardship (May 23, 2025). Photo/Quan Nguyen Ho
Lost Settlement
Odisha, India
In Odisha, India, a man sits in a ghost village abandoned to coastal erosion. Once-thriving communities are vanishing, with 74 seaside settlements already claimed by the encroaching sea (August 11, 2024). Photo/Sudip Maiti
Cry of Nature
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
In?Kinshasa, muddy?floodwaters swallow entire streets. The deluge transforms the city into a chaotic landscape where?natural?disaster overwhelms fragile infrastructure (April 6, 2025). Photo/Liandja Elongo Hans
Life on the Sandbar
Kushtia, Bangladesh
As rivers dry under climate stress, sandbars in Kushtia, Bangladesh, turn to grazing grounds. Herders guide cattle across shifting terrain, embodying resilience in a landscape continually reshaped by water’s absence (March 19, 2025). Photo/Solayman Hossain
Texas Floods
Kerrville, Texas, USA
In Kerrville, Texas, a man surveys overturned vehicles and shattered trees along the Guadalupe River. Flash floods rose with violent speed, leaving devastation and reminders of nature’s unyielding power (July 5, 2025). Photo/Ronaldo Schemidt
Grandma’s House
Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
In Porto Alegre, Brazil, floodwaters swallowed neighborhoods, leaving homes like this one abandoned and broken. Each empty room carries the weight of loss and the memory of family life washed away (April 29, 2024). Photo/Estephani Azevedo
Missing on the Riverbank
Passo de Estrela, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Priest Ezequiel walks through the ruins of his church in Passo de Estrela, where floods destroyed 600 homes. Across Rio Grande do Sul, 183 lives were lost in the disaster (August 6, 2024). Photo/Mateus Bruxel
Rescue from the Inferno
Mahlaing, Mandalay Division, Myanmar
In Mahlaing, an elderly man was trapped as wildfire swept toward his home. A rescue team reached him in time, embodying both human fragility and resilience in the face of climate-driven disaster (August 27, 2024). Photo/Aung Kyaw Zaw
The Fight for Water
Bojonegoro, Indonesia
In Bojonegoro, drought has dried vital water sources, sparking a clean water crisis. People struggle for access, while rising health risks underscore the human toll of climate change (October 27, 2024). Photo/Wahyu Budiyanto
When Water Turns Against Us
Isparta, Turkey
In Isparta, water—the essence of life—can also bring despair. This scene reflects both its power to sustain and its capacity to disrupt lives when balance is lost (December 15, 2024). Photo/Mehmet Yilmaz
Seaweed Against the Tide
Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
In Nusa Lembongan, seaweed farmers cultivate one of nature’s climate allies, absorbing CO?. Yet their work faces mounting threats from rising seas, warming waters, and ocean acidification (February 11, 2025). Photo/Nadège Delalieu
Trapped by Rising Waters
Mahajanga, Madagascar
In Mahajanga, Madagascar, heavy rains turned streets into rivers. Families were trapped inside their homes as floodwaters surged; one person lost their life in the disaster (March 1, 2025). Photo/Cem Genco
Buried by the Mountain
Jhyaple Khola, Tribhuvan Highway, Kathmandu–Dhading border, Nepal
A sudden landslide engulfed vehicles on Jhyaple Khola along the Tribhuvan Highway, killing 35 people. The tragedy revealed the deadly force of natural disasters in Nepal’s fragile mountain terrain (September 25, 2024). Photo/Dipendra Dhungana
Greening the Future
Singapore City, Singapore
A wildlife bridge in Singapore blends architecture and ecology. Innovative green design demonstrates how cities can adapt to climate challenges while improving quality of life (June 20, 2024). Photo/Mansour Mohsen
After the Cold Drop
Paiporta, Valencia, Spain
A woman walks past stacked, wrecked cars after torrential rains from Storm DANA inundated Paiporta, near Valencia. The storm left widespread destruction across Spain’s eastern coast (November 4, 2024). Photo/Guillermo Gutierrez Carrascal
California Wildfires
Los Angeles, California, USA
The Palisades Fire tears through homes in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, fueled by fierce winds. The blaze highlights California’s growing struggle against climate-driven wildfires (January 7, 2025). Photo/Ethan Swope
This exhibit was launched in November 2025