2023-09-26 13:04:51
From the left to the right, activists André Oliveira, Sofia Oliveira, Catarina Mota, Cláudia Agostinho and Martim Agostinho© GLAN
This Wednesday, September 27 Six young people from Portugal are to present a landmark lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that countries are failing to meet their human rights obligations by not doing enough to protect them from climate change..
If their claim is successful, the 27 EU member states as well as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey They could be legally required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Amnesty International is among the groups that signed a brief submitted to the court, arguing that governments have an obligation to protect human rights internationally through their climate policies.
Mandi Mudarikwa, director of Strategic Litigation at Amnesty International, has stated:
“As in so many other places, young people are leading the way and showing that there are legal avenues to achieve climate justice. Although this cause is very important, it is only one of several that are underway to ensure the protection of everyone’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.”
The people who have filed the lawsuit, like many others around the world, are already directly experiencing the effects of climate change on their health: increasingly frequent extreme heat waves limit their ability to concentrate, sleep well, time outdoors and exercising. Some also suffer from health problems such as asthma, aggravated by poor air quality due to extreme heat, forest fires and emissions generated by the burning of fossil fuels.
“This generation, and their sons and daughters, will suffer the worst consequences of the looming climate catastrophe. It is imperative that States act now to stop this growing catastrophe and fulfill their obligation to keep the increase in global average temperature below 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. For this, the progressive abandonment of fossil fuels is necessary.”
Who files the lawsuit
The six people who present the lawsuit, initially prompted to act by the destruction of the deadly forest fires that devastated several areas of Portugal in 2017, are: Cláudia Agostinho (24 years old), Martim Agostinho (20), Mariana Agostinho (11), Sofia Oliveira (18), André Oliveira (15) and Catarina Mota (23).
Claudia Agostinho
Cláudia is from Leiría, about 120 kilometers north of Lisbon, and lives with her brother Martim and her sister Mariana, also involved in the case. She works as a nurse at a local hospital, so she is well aware of the threat that escalating extreme heat waves pose to human health.
Martin Augustine
Martim studies at a science and technology school in Leiría. In 2017, smoke from wildfires led to the closure of his school, and he saw in horror the extent of the destruction near his home. Martim says his generation must do everything possible to make sure governments protect their rights and their future.
Mariana Agostinho
Mariana, the youngest of the group of plaintiffs, loves animals and dedicates all the time she can to working on her grandparents’ farm. Mariana would be 88 years old in 2100 but, if governments do not take urgent measures, global temperatures by then could exceed pre-industrial levels by 3°C, a catastrophic scenario.
Catarina Mota
Catarina also lives in Leiría and says that, with climate change, life has become more hostile in her region. The extreme heat experienced in Portugal in recent years has significantly affected her ability to exercise outdoors and sleep well. She worries about the future of the family she hopes to have one day.
Sofia Oliveira
Sofia lives with her brother André, her father and her mother in Lisbon. She says she is convinced that, if a significant number of people demand action, governments will have to do what is necessary to avoid the climate crisis. She wants to study “sustainable chemistry” with the idea of keeping fossil fuels in their rightful place: the soil.
André Oliveira
Sofia’s brother, André says that his friends are increasingly concerned about climate change and that they do not understand why the people who are supposed to protect them are allowing this to happen.
Additional information
In the case Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 31 Other States, the court will examine the claimants’ argument that their rights are being violated under the following articles of the European Convention on Human Rights:
Right to life (article 2)Right not to suffer torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (article 3)Right to private and family life (article 8)Right not to suffer discrimination on grounds of age (article 14 interpreted together with article 2 and/or article 8)
The decision could be announced in a few months. Since the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights are binding on the states involved, it could influence other cases before national courts in Europe and reinforce future climate lawsuits filed at the national level.
The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) supports the lawsuit and has launched an international crowdfunding initiative to support its initiative.
Two other climate cases have recently been brought before the European Court of Human Rights, which are pending resolution. One was filed by the Association of Senior Women for Climate Protection (Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz) and four of its members individually against Switzerland, and the other by Damien Carême, a French parliamentarian for the Green party, alleging that the climate policies of Switzerland and France do not protect their human rights.
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