The youth lawyer from Portugal who will argue climate change at the European Court of Human Rights said today that activists have evidence about the inefficiency of European countries.
“We have presented evidence showing that states have the power to do much more to adjust (carbon) emissions and choose not to do so,” attorney Gerry Liston told the Associated Press today at the start of the hearing that will take place at the Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in Strasbourg, France.
We are ready
⚖️The hearing in the @ECHR_CEDH who could decide that the future of Europe has only just begun. Inactivity around the #climatecrisis of governments has lasted far too long. Change is needed now. pic.twitter.com/xXYWNZlM7L
– Youth4ClimateJustice (@Y4CJ_) September 27, 2023
Today, six young people from Portugal will defend and present arguments to show that governments across Europe are not doing enough to protect people from the damage caused by climate change.
The case will take place at the European Court of Human Rights in the latest and biggest case in which activists are taking governments to court to force climate action.
Lawyers representing young people and children claim that the 32 European governments they want to sue have failed to adequately solve the problem of global warming, violating fundamental rights.
For Gerry Liston, the process could ultimately lead to political action over the future.
“This ruling would act as a binding treaty imposed by the court on the respondents, obliging them to rapidly accelerate their efforts to limit climate change,” Liston said in Strasbourg.
“In legal terms it would be a paradigm shift,” said the lawyer in Strasbourg, adding that a decision in favor of the group could also help in “future climate cases at national level”, guiding the respective national courts.
The six young people, aged between 11 and 24 (André, Catarina, Cláudia, Mariana, Martim and Sofia) argue that the 32 countries, including Portugal, are not taking the necessary measures to ensure that global warming does not exceed reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius. compared to the pre-industrial era, one of the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Young people point out that climate change causes very strong storms in winter and that rising temperatures cause more fires in summer.
They say they suffer from fear caused by natural disasters and the prospect of such a future, and they say countries have violated the “right to life” and “right to respect for private and family life” articles of the Convention on Human Rights not complying. People.
Source: DN
