Tuesday hearings on trio of cases before the European Court of Human Rights it was the first time that an international tribunal had rendered a decision on such cases of inaction on climate change, as advocacy groups and lawmakers around the world try to push governments to take stronger action against climate change through legislation.
The tribunal face with the Swiss group Senior Women for Climate Protection, otherwise known as KlimaSeniorinnen, which brings together more than 2,000 senior women. According to their complaint, the government’s failure to mitigate the effects of global warming has harmed their living conditions and their health.
The decision indicates that Switzerland has failed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions quickly enough to meet its own targets. The European Convention on Human Rights “encompasses the right to effective protection” by national authorities “against the serious adverse effects of climate change on life, health, well-being and quality of life”, states -he.
The group of women aged 65 and over said Tuesday’s judgment confirms that “Switzerland is not doing enough to protect its population from the consequences of the climate crisis.”
Two other cases accusing European governments of not doing enough to prevent climate change – one filed by a former mayor in northern France and another by a youth group in Portugal – were dismissed as inadmissible.
Lawyers were hoping for a decisive victory in the three cases before the Strasbourg court, which could reverberate across the continent and set a legal precedent forcing governments to commit to their climate change commitments.
In the high-profile case of six Portuguese young people born between 1999 and 2012, the complaint claimed that existing and future effects of climate change, including heat waves and wildfires, exposed them to danger. They criticized Portugal and 32 other countries for failing to meet emissions reduction targets set under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
“I was really hoping that we would win against all the countries, so I’m obviously disappointed that it didn’t happen,” said Sofia Oliveira, one of the Portuguese. “But most importantly, the court said in the Swiss case that governments must reduce their emissions further to protect human rights. Their victory is therefore a victory for us too and a victory for everyone! »
washingtonpost
