We need a legal framework for collective climate action | Mint - Mint

We need a legal framework for collective climate action | Mint

Three international disputes on climate change raise critical questions on the rights and obligations of countries and human rights of individuals in relation to climate change. First is a case initiated by Vanuatu, a small Pacific island nation, pursuant to which the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution in March, asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory ruling on obligations of states under international law to protect the climate system. The second is a request from the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, a group of nine island states, for an advisory opinion from the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea on whether climate change is a “threat to their survival". The third is a lawsuit by six Portuguese youth against 33 countries (European Union, Norway, Switzerland, UK, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine) at the European Court of Human Rights that their human rights have been violated by the lack of adequate climate action.