What the heck is climate justice? When once respected scientific journals spread propaganda and demagoguery! This is shoddy journalism!
What if the so called Climate Change is mostly a natural phenomenon caused by natural forces (e.g. the sun), i.e. a natural warming period after coming out of the Little Ice Age? One can easily argue that much of the global warming/climate change is based on pseudoscience!
This probably frivolous ruling may have serious implications! How many complaints and suits will follow this "pathway"?
The article is mute about:
- Whether the islanders themselves caused some of the damage
- What the islanders themselves did to mitigate some of the issues
- Whether the islanders first brought legal action in Australian courts and the outcomes
- Who helped these islanders to file the complaint with the OHCR
"The United Nations Human Rights Committee has found that the Australian government violated the rights of people living on four islands in the Torres Strait and has ordered it to pay for the harm caused. The committee ruled last week that the country had failed to protect islanders from the effects of climate change, making their claim the first successful one of this kind. ...
Using human-rights law is a relatively new strategy. In 2005, a group of Inuit people took a case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, claiming that the United States had violated the rights of Inuit people by failing to protect them against the impacts of climate change. The case wasn’t successful, but it kicked off the idea that it might be possible to apply human rights law to address climate problems. ...
The country [Australia] was a sitting duck for this kind of case, because it is such a high emitter of greenhouse gases. ...
But other recent cases have pushed against those national boundary limitations. In 2019, for example, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and 15 other children appealed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child against 5 nations that were failing to meet their own commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. ...
But other recent cases have pushed against those national boundary limitations. In 2019, for example, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and 15 other children appealed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child against 5 nations that were failing to meet their own commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. ...
but ultimately it ruled the complaint inadmissible, holding that the petitioners had not exhausted legal avenues in the individual countries.
In another example, Vanuatu is seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which hears disputes between countries, to see whether nations can be held responsible under international law for the effects of climate change.
Taking these cases together, it certainly feels as if things are shifting in a positive direction."
From the UN decision:
"In a ground-breaking decision, the U.N. Human Rights Committee has found that Australia’s failure to adequately protect indigenous Torres Islanders against adverse impacts of climate change violated their rights to enjoy their culture and be free from arbitrary interferences with their private life, family and home. ...
The Committee today issued its Decision after examining a joint complaint filed by eight Australian nationals and six of their children. They are all indigenous inhabitants of Boigu, Poruma, Warraber and Masig, four small, low-lying islands in Australia’s Torres Strait region. ...
“This decision marks a significant development as the Committee has created a pathway for individuals to assert claims where national systems have failed to take appropriate measures to protect those most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of their human rights,” Committee member Hélène Tigroudja said. ...
The Committee today issued its Decision after examining a joint complaint filed by eight Australian nationals and six of their children. They are all indigenous inhabitants of Boigu, Poruma, Warraber and Masig, four small, low-lying islands in Australia’s Torres Strait region. ...
“This decision marks a significant development as the Committee has created a pathway for individuals to assert claims where national systems have failed to take appropriate measures to protect those most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of their human rights,” Committee member Hélène Tigroudja said. ...
In the same decision, the Committee indicated that despite Australia’s series of actions, such as the construction of new seawalls on the four islands that are expected to be completed by 2023, additional timely and appropriate measures were required to avert a risk to the Islanders’ lives, since without robust national and international efforts, the effects of climate change may expose individuals to a violation of their right to life under the Covenant.
As remedies, the Committee asked Australia to compensate the indigenous Islanders for the harm suffered, engage in meaningful consultations with their communities to assess their needs, and take measures to continue to secure the communities’ safe existence on their respective islands."
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