Inter-American Court Of Human Rights To Meet To Confront Climate Crisis

• Monday, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights opened its 166th Regular Session at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados, where it will be taking up the issue of the climate emergency, and the response in the framework of international human rights law.
• More than 60 delegations from around the globe, including experts on human rights and climate change and from academia and non-governmental organizations, are participating in the session, hosted by the government of Barbados. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights will hold a public hearing on a request for an advisory opinion on climate change and human rights.
• The request for an advisory opinion for clarification on the scope of governments’ obligations in responding to climate change was requested by Colombia and Chile. The countries noted that both are experiencing the daily challenge of dealing with a proliferation of droughts, floods, landslides and fires.
• Still, climate effects are not being felt uniformly leading to the effort to gather diverse opinions on governments’ obligations to their populations. A similar information-gathering effort is being carried out by the International Tribunal of the Sea and the International Court of Justice, said Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, registrar of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
• Overall, the hope is that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights will issue an advisory opinion that would guide the climate and energy policy of many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• In an amicus brief submitted last year, Earthjustice urged the court to outline specific obligations for governments to mitigate climate change, including phasing out fossil fuel production and promoting a just transition to clean and renewable energy.

(Source: Miami Herald)