The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court) was installed yesterday Monday in the city of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, to continue a cycle of consultations on the responsibility of States in the face of the climate crisis.
“It is the first time that an opinion of these characteristics is going to be issued. Although there are pronouncements from the Court in some sentences with a climate focus, to date there has not been a request of this magnitude,” he points out to The counter Alejandra Donoso, director of the Environmental Defense NGO.
EFE/ Raphael Alves
The prolonged drought for more than a decade in Chile and the floods that have occurred this year in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina, among others, are a clear example that climate change is happening now and the court must resolve this. case. Furthermore, Latin America continues to be the most dangerous area for climate defenders, including indigenous peoples, who in many cases are the voices of the fight against the climate emergency and a major victim of its consequences.
During the three sessions held in Manaus, the Inter-American Court heard from social organizations, representatives of indigenous peoples and academics to prepare an advisory opinion on the obligation of States in the face of the climate crisis. Alejandra Donoso spoke before the Court about the recognition of water as a common good and a fundamental axis of international human rights obligations.
“We are facing the climate emergency and it is super important that States have some guidelines on what has to be done and how. It happens a lot that, beyond denialism – that is like the extreme of what not to do –, there are proposals for solutions, but without the human rights approach they end up being worse,” says the director of the Environmental Ombudsman’s Office.
“When extractivism extends to transition fuels, such as lithium or green hydrogen, whose extraction requires a lot of water, we enter the field of false solutions, since they are very thirsty fuels in their production, obviously much more massively, and by not considering human rights, and in particular the human right to water, this could be a factor that even deepens the crisis. So, hence the importance of the advisory opinion issued by the Inter-American Court, which had broad participation through reports from civil society, academia and also from some States,” adds Donoso.
The objective of these hearings is to respond to a request from Chile and Colombia in relation to the response that States must give to the climate emergency within the framework of human rights.
From the Foreign Ministry in Chile, they explained that “the request for an advisory opinion before the Inter-American Court was presented in a context of high activity by international courts in the face of the climate crisis.”
There was a first process before the International Court of the Law of the Sea, which issued its advisory opinion on May 21, developing the obligations of States to protect the oceans against pollution and there is also a process underway before the International Court of Justice, which was requested through a resolution adopted by consensus before the UN General Assembly.
“In this context, and considering the high interest and relevance of this matter, Chile and Colombia wanted to make a complementary request before the Inter-American Court, considering that this court could complement the efforts of the other two, by specifically addressing the human rights dimension. of the climate emergency,” they stated from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Many social organizations and indigenous peoples from different countries came to Brazil to present their testimonies before the Court, where they explained how climate change is impacting almost all aspects of their lives.
What role does Chile play in the request before the Inter-American Court?
Chile is one of the two requesting States, along with Colombia. He first formulated the questions to be presented to the Court, made a written intervention and then participated in the beginning and closing of the oral hearings that were held, first in Barbados and then in Manaus. Although the initial request was joint, subsequent interventions were carried out separately by Chile and Colombia, considering the priorities and emphases of each country.
“There is still a need for greater development and clarity on the scope of States’ obligations in this matter, which range from how and by how much to reduce their emissions and thus mitigate the crisis, as well as what measures to take to adapt to new climate events (which They range from droughts, floods, rise in sea level, increase in extreme climate phenomena, among others),” they expressed from the Foreign Ministry.
The resolution of the Inter-American Court
Another of the organizations that was present in the discussions is Avaaz, which in October 2023 presented a written opinion before the Inter-American Court to highlight the disproportionate effects that the climate crisis is having on some of the most vulnerable members of society, that is, , children and adolescents and indigenous peoples.
The Avaaz Campaigns Director, Laura Rico, states that the event was an important collaboration and meeting space for young people, researchers and communities from different countries.
“Now the Court has to sit down and write the petitions from Chile and Colombia, there are about 20 questions and I don’t think they will deliver it this year,” he tells The counter.
During hearings held in Barbados and Manaus, the Inter-American Court received more than 150 oral interventions.
“It is not clear the timeline, But what is coming is that the advisory opinion will come out and with that opinion, at least, all the people who participated and who are interested will use it as an instrument to reformulate and generate new reforms, laws, public policies, mechanisms and litigation,” explains Laura Rico.
Along the same lines, he emphasizes that the information issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will be “the first opinion and recommendation that comes from the perspective of today’s world, this world of extreme climate phenomena. It was also discussed that this becomes an instrument for other national or regional Courts, where they can take elements from this text to inspire, develop and add to their own jurisprudential work. This resolution They are going to cite it for the next 20 years and globally it is also going to be very relevant and it is going to be something that people are going to continually use, because it is going to offer the guidelines of international law on this issue.”
This initiative joins other demands from different parts of the world that demand responsibility from States in the face of the climate crisis. An example of this is the ruling issued in April by the Strasbourg Court (European Court of Human Rights), in favor of one of the three lawsuits raised for insufficient action by States to limit climate change.
The resolution ruled in favor of a group of elderly women who sued the State for violation of their rights. Specifically, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Switzerland for violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, relating to the “right to respect for private and family life”, in the first condemnation of a State for its lack of initiatives to combat global warming.
The Swiss association Grève du Clima (Climate Strike), made up of 2,500 women of average 73 years of age, denounced that the “deficiencies” of the Swiss authorities in terms of climate protection “seriously harm their health.”
“This year is crucial for climate litigation,” emphasizes Laura Rico.
“The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights has already come out, we would be waiting for the opinion of the Inter-American Court and the ruling of the International Court of the Law of the Sea and the International Court of Justice is also pending. In all these courts, this year there is some type of climate action happening and what that is demonstrating is a very great intention on the part of States to take seriously the fulfillment of agreements as vital as the Paris Agreement and, it also demonstrates that vulnerable communities – such as young people, such as the elderly, such as indigenous peoples – are turning to other strategies to ask for solutions,” concludes the Avaaz Campaigns Director.