{"id":68219,"date":"2024-07-04T17:09:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T15:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=68219"},"modified":"2024-12-16T16:18:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:18:53","slug":"climate-justice-inter-american-court-human-rights-hearings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/68219\/climate-justice-inter-american-court-human-rights-hearings\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf you could talk to future generations, what would you like them to hear?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

That was the question asked by one of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) judges, the honourable Judge Eduardo Ferrer, to young community members during the first round of hearings of the Advisory Opinion<\/a> on the climate emergency and human rights<\/a> that took place in Bridgetown, Barbados<\/a>. The room, packed with civil society organisations, stood still in silent awe, hopeful, filled with anticipation at what would be answered. We tried to answer the question within ourselves, <\/em>but also wondered: what would we like to say to those who are suffering the brunt of the climate crisis right now? <\/em>After nine days of Court hearings, and after listening to countless of stories of impacted communities and pleadings of hundreds of allies and civil society members, including our own delegation, these are the messages we want to deliver.<\/p>\n\n

\"El
The community of El Bosque, the first in Mexico to be officially recognised by authorities as climate-displaced, is one of the groups that demanded climate justice before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) at hearings held in Manaus Brazil on the obligations of States in the context of the climate emergency. The delegations were heard to assist the IACtHR in responding to a request by Chile and Colombia for an advisory opinion.
\u00a9 Gustavo Graf \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

We reassure those facing the impacts of the climate crisis today that people around the world are working hard to hold those responsible accountable and that authorities are listening.<\/strong> <\/strong>With 265 written observations and over 150 oral interventions, this Advisory Opinion has been the most participatory one in the history of the IACtHR. <\/strong>This demonstrates not only the urgency of the matter, and the important role international tribunals have in the protection of the rule of law, but also the increasing demand for climate justice and leadership of those most impacted by the climate crisis. <\/p>\n\n

At the same time, as Carla Bar\u00e9, Indigenous Lawyer from Coordena\u00e7\u00e3o das Organiza\u00e7\u00f5es Ind\u00edgenas da Amaz\u00f4nia Brasileira<\/em><\/a> (COAIB) expressed in her intervention before the Court in Manaos<\/a>, we acknowledge that many \u201care not defenders of the environment by choice\u201d, but because the climate and biodiversity crises are putting their very existence and ways of living at risk. Indeed, one thing is to watch the news, read the newspapers and hear about the horrors that many are facing as a result of the climate crisis, but a very different thing is to be yourself at the foreground of those impacts. As Aurea S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, community member of El Bosque, the first community to be recognized as climate-displaced by Mexican authorities, told the Court<\/a> in her oral intervention: <\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe lost our house in 2022. Since then my family and I have been living in a tin house (…) without the basic necessities and without enough electricity to refrigerate our food or our insulin (…). But we have not only had material losses. We lost our roots, our neighbours, what made us a community (…) and as if this was not enough, this is not over. (…) The sea used to lull us to sleep but now it wakes us up, it takes away our sleep. That fear of the future that you feel when you hear about climate change, we are living it<\/strong>.<\/strong>” <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"El
The community of El Bosque, the first in Mexico to be officially recognised by authorities as climate-displaced, is one of the groups that demanded climate justice before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) at hearings held in Manaus Brazil on the obligations of States in the context of the climate emergency. The delegations were heard to assist the IACtHR in responding to a request by Chile and Colombia for an advisory opinion.
\u00a9 Gustavo Graf \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

We also recognise that for thousands around the world, climate change is already having catastrophic and, in many cases, irreversible impacts. <\/strong>It is often said that 1.5\u00b0C is a temperature \u201cguardrail\u201d that will prevent the worst and most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis. Although it is clear that 1.5\u00b0C is a limit that should not be crossed if we want to prevent far more intense and catastrophic impacts than the ones we are experiencing now, the widespread violation of human rights and environmental destruction that the world is witnessing today as a result of current levels of global warming is already severe enough to prompt ambitious climate action and trigger accountability from governments and corporations.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

We affirm that the responsible for this crisis have a name. As Aurea S\u00e1nchez told the Court, \u201cFor the authorities, we are a problem, but this is not our fault”. <\/strong>Research shows that nearly two-thirds of global industrial carbon dioxide and methane emissions since 1751 can be traced to just 90 entities\u2013 the carbon majors. Likewise, more than 80% of deforestation and its emissions result from agroindustry commodities-including the production of beef, soy, and palm oil\u2013 are caused by a small number of large multinational corporations. <\/p>\n\n

Furthermore, as Dr. Carly Phillips reminded the Court in the Greenpeace International <\/em>and allies delegation\u2019s oral submission<\/a>, “the fossil fuel industry has been aware of the risks that their products pose to humanity. By the 1970s and 80s, the industry\u2019s own scientists correctly predicted the trajectory of global warming, and used this knowledge to reduce physical risks to their operations and profits. Publicly however \u2013 and to this day\u2014 the fossil fuel industry has greatly expanded production of their climate destructive products, and has worked to ensure societies\u2019 dependence through a concerted campaign to promote skepticism of climate science, obstruct regulation, and spread disinformation.”

After listening to hundreds of testimonies, we hope one message is clear to the Court: it is not possible to guarantee the effective enjoyment of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment\u2013 or of any other human right\u2013 without a stable climate.  This can only be guaranteed by stopping the expansion, production, sale and combustion of fossil fuels and halting the destruction of natural carbon sinks. <\/strong>The window of opportunity we have to ensure climate stability is closing. As the Greenpeace International and allies delegation demanded of the Court, governments and large corporations’ legacy of impunity must come to an end. <\/p>\n\n

To answer the question of honourable Judge Ferrer, co-plaintiff Kal\u0101lapaikuanalu Winter, one of 14 youths who sued<\/a> and won a historic settlement<\/a> against the Hawaii Department of Transportation over the operation of a transport system in a case supported<\/a> by Our Children’s Trust and Earthjustice, said <\/strong>“If I could talk to the future generations, I would tell them that there are people fighting for them and that we are fighting for them and that their lives matter and their rights matter.”<\/p>\n\n

We agree with Kal\u0101lapaikuanalu Winter. If we could talk to future generations, we would want them to know we are here fighting to safeguard their rights;  we are fighting so they can enjoy a stable climate, one that doesn\u2019t take away their dreams and doesn\u2019t force them to resist and seek justice for the protection of their most fundamental freedoms and rights; we are fighting to bring accountability to those most responsible for this crisis and to set a precedent that private and greedy interests cannot ever again be more important than the existence and well-being of human beings and nature.  <\/p>\n\n

What would<\/strong> you<\/em><\/strong> say to future generations?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRaise your voice for Climate Justice\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It\u2019s time for all of us to assert our rights, demand climate justice, and a dignified way of life.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\n

Michelle Jonker-Argueta is Senior Legal Counsel Strategic Litigation at Greenpeace International <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Maria Alejandra Serra is Legal Counsel, Climate Justice and Liability at Greenpeace International <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, impacted communities have made their case for holding those responsible for the climate crisis accountable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":66567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"Climate Justice Liability","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[100,73],"tags":[89],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-68219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about","category-social-and-economic-systems","tag-climate","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68219"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68259,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68219\/revisions\/68259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68219"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=68219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}