{"id":16948,"date":"2022-03-23T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/?p=16948"},"modified":"2022-03-23T13:53:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T12:53:11","slug":"no-kidding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/no-kidding\/","title":{"rendered":"No Kidding!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When Greta Thunberg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjAqJbL9cL1AhV0g_0HHSO7Cm8QwqsBegQIBxAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DRjsLm5PCdVQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw3jUg25MCTZl9nvSkRAALng\">invited us adults to panic<\/a>, few of us thought that she was about to sue, if only because litigation is quintessentially a game for grown-ups. On 23 September 2019, the day of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/climatechange\/2019-climate-action-summit\">UN Climate Action Summit<\/a>, Ms Thunberg and 15 other minors from 12 states and five continents filed a <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/non-us-case-documents\/2019\/20190923_Communication-No.-1042019-Argentina-Communication-No.-1052019-Brazil-Communication-No.-1062019-France-Communication-No.-1072019-Germany-Communication-No.-1082019-Turkey_petition.pdf\">complaint<\/a> before the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to protect their individual rights to life, health and culture, which the plaintiffs described as already compromised by the effects of climate change, crucially as a result of governments\u2019 culpable inaction.<\/p>\n<p>Since only about a quarter of UN Members ratified the <a href=\"https:\/\/treaties.un.org\/pages\/ViewDetails.aspx?chapter=4&amp;clang=_en&amp;mtdsg_no=IV-11-d&amp;src=IND\">Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure<\/a>, the choice of defendants was limited and finally fell on Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey. <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/sacchi-et-al-v-argentina-et-al\/\"><em>Sacchi et al. v Argentina et al.<\/em><\/a> offers a remarkable example of a demand for justice crisscrossing the North-South divide. And it is the closest thing we ever had to a worldwide trial against adults. Although the case eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ejiltalk.org\/childrens-rights-and-climate-change-at-the-un-committee-on-the-rights-of-the-child-pragmatism-and-principle-in-sacchi-v-argentina\/\">foundered on the lack of exhaustion of domestic remedies<\/a>, the CRC, in declaring the case inadmissible and yet <em>within its jurisdiction<\/em>, has offered valuable pointers for a litigation campaign that young people are now pursuing worldwide. Our contribution provides an overview of the relevant cases, many of which still pending, and tries to pinpoint the drivers and possible trajectories of a global phenomenon which could go some way towards redressing the injustice the Global South is suffering as a result of global warming.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scope of Investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Relying mainly on the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/\">databases<\/a>, we inventoried all cases \u2013 whether civil, administrative, constitutional or international \u2013 in which the plaintiffs are young people complaining that public authorities are not doing enough to combat climate change. Instead of sticking to a definite age threshold, we included all lawsuits a salient feature of which is the applicant\u2019s young age. Based on this criterion, we left out mass cases such as <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/vzw-klimaatzaak-v-kingdom-of-belgium-et-al\/\"><em>VZW Klimaatzaak v Belgium<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/notre-affaire-a-tous-and-others-v-france\/\"><em>Notre Affaire \u00e0 Tous et al. v France<\/em><\/a>, which, although counting youths among a huge number of applicants, do not advance arguments relating to youth\u2019s vulnerabilities and rights beyond general references to the interest of future generations.<\/p>\n<p>We employed a broad notion of adjudication, such that our survey even includes <em>Environmental Justice Australia v Australia<\/em>, which stems from a <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/environmental-justice-australia-eja-v-australia\/\">complaint<\/a> that four people aged between 14 and 24 recently submitted to three UN Special Rapporteurs (such complaints are based on law and require the petitioning authority to make a determination as to their merits before deciding whether to send a warning to the respondent state).<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we have included cases where climate change, though not the main subject of the complaint, is still an important aspect of it. For example, the case <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/petition-to-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-seeking-to-redress-violations-of-the-rights-of-children-in-cite-soleil-haiti\/\"><em>Six Children of Cit\u00e9 Soleil and SKALA Community Center v Haiti<\/em><\/a>, which is pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, chiefly concerns waste disposal but, as the applicants contend, \u201cclimate change magnifies the adverse environmental conditions facing children\u201d, calling for additional adaptation measures (see <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/non-us-case-documents\/2021\/20210204_13174_petition.pdf\">here<\/a>, at 32).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Beyond Lovejoy\u2019s Law<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Skeptics might think that youth-led climate litigation is but an elaborate expression of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Think_of_the_children\">Lovejoy\u2019s Law<\/a>, a presumptive law of social psychology named after Helen Lovejoy, the Reverend\u2019s wife in <em>The Simpsons<\/em>, to whom we owe the iconic outburst: \u201cWon\u2019t somebody please think of the children!\u201d. According to Lovejoy\u2019s Law, the love for children is likely to be invoked as an emotional tiebreaker when opponents in a political dispute run out of rational arguments. Adults concerned about global warming may thus wish to recruit children to advance a cause by anti-majoritarian means, given the enduring failure of representative democracy and diplomacy.<\/p>\n<p>Litigation involving children as plaintiffs is likely to have a strong media impact. And saying no to a child is even harder before an audience ready to lash out at the insensitivity of fellow adults in robes. The lawyer of Rabab Ali, a now twelve-year-old girl whose climate <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/ali-v-federation-of-pakistan-2\/\">case<\/a> has been pending before the Supreme Court of Pakistan since 2016, used language in keeping with Lovejoy\u2019s Law: \u201cthis Hon\u2019ble apex Court must consider the small voice of youth Petitioner and the children of Pakistan as if they were their own children\u201d (see <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/non-us-case-documents\/2016\/20160401_Constitutional-Petition-No.-___-I-of-2016_petition-1.pdf\">here<\/a>, at 14).<\/p>\n<p>While it is too early to say whether Lovejoy\u2019s law is producing any effect in this field (rulings like that of the National Green Tribunal in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/pandey-v-india\/\"><em>Ridhima Pandey v India<\/em><\/a> suggest not), it is undeniable that youth-led litigation has gone mainstream by now. An NGO working on climate litigation and prioritising cases \u201cnot already receiving adequate support from other NGOs and founders\u201d avoids involvement in \u201cchildren\u2019s climate cases\u201d precisely for that reason (correspondence on file with authors). It is rather the youth who do not believe in Lovejoy\u2019s Law. As Ms Thunberg famously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwibit-458n1AhVB26QKHcDjB2IQwqsBegQIBBAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVbDnPj0G0wY&amp;usg=AOvVaw2xlbPko5TrhhN7KTOYD9X0\">told<\/a> us from the podium of COP24 in Katowice, \u201cyou have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again\u201d. Instead of addressing adults as wise and caring parents \u2013 the ideal agents of Lovejoy\u2019s Law \u2013 Ms Thunberg\u2019s speech infantilised them: \u201cYou are not mature enough to tell it like it is; even that burden you leave to us, the children\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>A similar attitude prevails within <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wy4cj.org\/\">World\u2019s Youth for Climate Justice<\/a> (WYCJ), a transnational coalition of young adults with its cradle in the Pacific Islands and involving activists from the Philippines, the Caribbean, Brazil, South Africa, and Europe. WYCJ lobbies governments to get the UN General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an advisory opinion on what would be \u201cthe obligations of states under international law to protect the rights of present and future generations against the adverse effects of climate change\u201d (see <a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5f063a0c8f53b604aed84729\/t\/60e53dd9d93f1a66fb57edad\/1625636347082\/Human+rights+in+the+face+of+the+climate+crisis%3A+a+youth-led+initiative+to+bring+climate+justice+to+the+International+Court+of+Justice\">here<\/a>, at 29). In their painstaking effort to formulate a question at once effective and capable of attracting sufficient consensus within the Assembly, people at WYCJ \u201cvalue [the] wisdom\u201d of \u201colder generations\u201d, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wy4cj.org\/our-principles\">caveat<\/a> that \u201c[i]n the end, youth make the decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Alliances with adults are necessary because climate change litigation is an expensive and knowledge-intensive business. Behind the abundant and generally pro bono supply of top-notch legal services lies an intricate web of funders, including public agencies, individual donors, and financial operators such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/ciff.org\/priorities\/climate-change\/\">Children\u2019s Investment Fund Foundation<\/a> (whose director has been referred to by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bnnbloomberg.ca\/the-hedge-fund-industry-gets-its-own-greta-thunberg-1.1356085\">Bloomberg<\/a> as the Greta Thunberg of the hedge fund industry). However, tactical alliance with adults, although profitable, is not nearly as important for young people as joining forces with their peers worldwide.<\/p>\n<p><strong>World Youth\u2019s Apocalyptic Turn<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Transfixed by Al Gore\u2019s <em>The Inconvenient Truth<\/em>, Alec Loorz from Ventura, California, founded Kids vs Global Warming at the age of 12 and later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/tech\/annals-of-technology\/the-teen-agers-suing-over-climate-change\">led<\/a> the first wave of youth-led climate change litigation in the early 2010s. Mr Loorz had a clear idea of the need to forge a global youth alliance to address an existential threat that adults felt too little about. To this end, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjy2fnv_8n1AhXM8qQKHS2CC80QwqsBegQIAxAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DJkRDJbuio60&amp;usg=AOvVaw11tFhqAk-sJW716CZ4d4Yv\">he created <em>iMatter<\/em><\/a>, a smartphone app with which young people all over the world (i.e. the few who in those days had access to the necessary technology) could network, exchange and store information, and organise campaigns and rallies. One decade later, during the <a href=\"https:\/\/youth4climate.live\/\">pre-COP26 youth event<\/a> held in Milan on 28-30 September 2021, Greta Thunberg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ceIE_ehQhtc\">pointed out<\/a> that \u201cthe climate crisis is [\u2026] the symptom of a much larger crisis\u201d, \u201ca crisis of inequality that dates back to colonialism and beyond\u201d. WYCJ, the youth organisation that tries to put climate change on the ICJ\u2019s table, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wy4cj.org\/our-principles\">refers<\/a> to itself as \u201ca decolonial and anti-oppressive space\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Youth solidarity across the North-South divide has been intensifying lately and spawned a vast grassroots movement arguably because prospects of continuous growth, within which trajectories between rich and poor could keep on diverging as long as the rich funded the \u201cfight against poverty\u201d, have faded. It was Greta Thunberg who decisively voiced the feeling that catastrophe looms large and concerns everyone, regardless of residence or income. As an Australian 18-year-old girl involved in a climate case <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/2021\/oct\/25\/young-australians-lodge-human-rights-complaints-with-un-over-alleged-government-inaction-on-climate\">told<\/a> <em>The Guardian<\/em>, \u201cI have struggled with depression and anxiety brought on by the knowledge that without action by our governments, the planet I live on has an expiry date\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Global youth solidarity is part of the movement\u2019s founding myth. The 2018 docu-manifesto <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthunstoppable.com\/\"><em>Youth Unstoppable: The Rise of the Global Youth Climate Movement<\/em><\/a> opens with the then 13-years-old spokesperson for a Canadian youth-led NGO addressing a half-empty hall at the 1992 Rio Conference: \u201cI am here to speak on behalf of starving children around the world whose cries go unheard\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjF26q7rcL1AhURDOwKHXPFAvcQwqsBegQICxAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoJJGuIZVfLM&amp;usg=AOvVaw1wc05MGMt1C_ePEs4WkLzv\">said<\/a> Ms Cullis-Suzuki. That speech, which by the way made no mention of climate change, reflected a compassionate attitude of the North towards the South and brimmed with Lovejoyan undertones. Ever more distrustful of adults\u2019 feelings, today\u2019s youth have turned apocalyptic and embraced litigation as a tool of rebellion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Radicality of Youth-Led Litigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the procedural avenue selected by the plaintiffs, virtually all the cases concern an alleged violation of fundamental rights, drawn from either domestic constitutional law or international human rights law, or both. In cases such as <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/urgenda-foundation-v-kingdom-of-the-netherlands\/\"><em>Urgenda Foundation v Netherlands<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/a-sud-et-al-v-italy\/\"><em>A Sud et al. v Italy<\/em><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clientearth.org\/media\/ilnjfico\/clientearth-legal-briefing-on-polish-climate-case.pdf\"><em>Maya Ozbayoglu v Poland<\/em><\/a>, human rights discourse colours claims formally made under the law of torts. Instead of claiming compensation for a damage deemed too great to remedy, the plaintiffs typically ask that the state put an end to its illegal conduct, first and foremost by adopting emission targets compatible with the objective of limiting temperature increases to 1.5 or 2\u00b0C by 2100, relative to pre-industrial levels.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Environnement Jeunesse v Procureur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral du Canada<\/em>, plaintiffs are <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/non-us-case-documents\/2018\/20181126_500-06-000955-183_application.pdf\">asking<\/a> for symbolic compensation of $100 for each member of the class action, that is, all Qu\u00e9bec residents under the age of 36. As the resulting sum would be too large, they propose to exchange compensation for the adoption of wide-ranging mitigation measures. In the cases examined, the plaintiffs invariably ask the court to recognise an injury that has already occurred and is ongoing. However, remedies sought are prospective only. By highlighting the reality of the harm, the plaintiffs aim at convincing the court that they have an arguable case as well as signal that turning to action is urgent.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to stress that the line of cases we deal with is not merely a spinoff of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/transnational-environmental-law\/article\/rights-turn-in-climate-change-litigation\/0E35456D7793968F37335429C1163EA1\">climate change litigation\u2019s human rights turn<\/a> boosted by the Paris Agreement\u2019s bottom-up approach to emissions reduction. The rise of youth-led litigation accompanies such turn and operates as its radical edge, in three ways.<\/p>\n<p>Firstly, children\u2019s greater vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change makes it easier to have their status as victims recognised.<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, the younger the applicant the longer she or he will endure such effects, which, incidentally, will grow more severe over time. This circumstance gives rise to a claim for equal treatment, which is becoming a distinguishing mark of youth-led litigation. The CRC recognised the merits of this claim by stating that children \u201care particularly affected by climate change, both in terms of the manner in which they experience its effects and the potential of climate change to affect them throughout their lifetimes, particularly if immediate action is not taken\u201d (see <a href=\"https:\/\/documents-dds-ny.un.org\/doc\/UNDOC\/GEN\/G21\/320\/72\/PDF\/G2132072.pdf?OpenElement\">here<\/a>, at para. 10.13).<\/p>\n<p>Thirdly, and most importantly, the vast majority of youth lives in developing and least-developed countries \u2013 85 percent according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unicef-irc.org\/publications\/pdf\/ccc_final_2014.pdf\">UN sources<\/a> \u2013 often in areas particularly exposed to the adverse effects of climate change. There is therefore strong intersectionality between young age, poverty, and climate victimhood. As Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjnwNOlg8b1AhVLzaQKHedEA-oQwqsBegQIBBAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVMvzJu79WG0&amp;usg=AOvVaw0XR1YjvFEdsv6bQgXXAVXR\">told<\/a> adults gathering in Glasgow for COP26, \u201cSub-Saharan Africa is responsible for 0.5 per cent of historical emissions; the children are responsible for none\u201d. Intersectionality makes of youth-led litigation a global vanguard in the fight for climate justice, which is above all justice for the Global South, regardless of who pursues it and where.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Youth-Led Litigation\u2019s Evolving Geography<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Youth-led climate litigation has a little more than a decade of history behind it. The Supreme Court of the Philippines <a href=\"http:\/\/hrlibrary.umn.edu\/research\/Philippines\/Oposa%20v%20Factoran,%20GR%20No.%20101083,%20July%2030,%201993,%20on%20the%20State's%20Responsibility%20To%20Protect%20the%20Right%20To%20Live%20in%20a%20Healthy%20Environment.pdf\">decided<\/a> the iconic <em>Minors Oposa <\/em>case, which also concerned the greenhouse effect of deforestation, as early as 1993. However, that ruling belongs to a different epoch, one far less beset than ours by the riddle of climate justice and where nothing resembling today\u2019s youth movement against global warming existed. It was then in the United States in the early 2010s, that youth legal activism against global warming as we know it today took root before spreading worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Starting in 2011, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ourchildrenstrust.org\/mission-statement\"><em>Our Children\u2019s Trust<\/em><\/a><em> (OCT)<\/em>, a non-profit public-interest law firm based in Oregon, undertook a \u201cstrategically coordinated national effort\u201d to file complaints with courts in almost every state (for a detailed survey, see <a href=\"https:\/\/dc.law.utah.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&amp;context=ulr\">here<\/a>). Most of these actions failed either because they were considered precluded by separation of powers or because they sought to expand the scope of the public trust doctrine in ways that many courts found unconvincing. OCT \u2013 which has strived to disseminate its litigation model worldwide \u2013 now mostly concentrates on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ourchildrenstrust.org\/juliana-v-us\"><em>Juliana v US<\/em><\/a>, a case involving 21 youths and pending before the Federal courts of Oregon since 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from a <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/mbabazi-et-al-v-attorney-general-et-al\/\">complaint<\/a> filed in 2012 with the High Court in Kampala, Uganda, and still pending, the US maintained a monopoly on youth-led climate litigation until 2013, when the <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/urgenda-foundation-v-kingdom-of-the-netherlands\/\">Netherlands<\/a> joined it on the map. In 2016-2018, cases emerged in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/thomson-v-minister-for-climate-change-issues\/\">New Zealand<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/greenpeace-nordic-assn-and-nature-youth-v-norway-ministry-of-petroleum-and-energy\/\">Norway<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/planb.earth\/plan-b-v-uk\/\">UK<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-jurisdiction\/ireland\/\">Ireland<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/environnement-jeunesse-v-canadian-government\/\">Canada<\/a> and, in the Global South, in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/ali-v-federation-of-pakistan-2\/\">Pakistan<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/pandey-v-india\/\">India<\/a>, the <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/segovia-et-al-v-climate-change-commission\/\">Philippines<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/future-generation-v-ministry-environment-others\/\">Colombia<\/a>, where youth collected what is arguably their most significant <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/non-us-case-documents\/2018\/20180405_11001-22-03-000-2018-00319-00_decision.pdf\">victory<\/a> to date. In 2018, international litigation involving young people debuted before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which notoriously <a href=\"https:\/\/curia.europa.eu\/juris\/document\/document.jsf;jsessionid=77DCD91724194A29EA83B10499C8A0D7?text=&amp;docid=239294&amp;pageIndex=0&amp;doclang=en&amp;mode=lst&amp;dir=&amp;occ=first&amp;part=1&amp;cid=1490264\">declared<\/a> the action inadmissible. That was also the first case formally possessing a transnational dimension, as the plaintiffs <a href=\"https:\/\/peoplesclimatecase.caneurope.org\/\">included non-EU citizens<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The period 2019-2021 kicked off with the multistate case filed before the CRC. It continued with litigation intensifying in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-jurisdiction\/canada\/\">Canada<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-jurisdiction\/australia\/\">Australia<\/a>\u2019s awakening after the Black Summer, a boom in Latin America, with new cases emerging in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/alvarez-et-al-v-peru\/\">Peru<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/asociacion-civil-por-la-justicia-ambiental-v-province-of-entre-rios-et-al\/\">Argentina<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/youth-v-government-of-mexico\/\">Mexico<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/six-youths-v-minister-of-environment-and-others\/\">Brazil<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/thomas-de-freitas-v-guyana\/\">Guyana<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/petition-to-the-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights-seeking-to-redress-violations-of-the-rights-of-children-in-cite-soleil-haiti\/\">Haiti<\/a>, this last brought before the Inter-American human rights system. Cases arose also in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/kim-yujin-et-al-v-south-korea\/\">South Korea<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/africa-climate-alliance-et-al-v-minister-of-mineral-resources-energy-et-al-cancelcoal-case\/\">South Africa<\/a>. Meanwhile, international litigation went on in Europe, with two cases lodged with the Strasbourg Court, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/youth-for-climate-justice-v-austria-et-al\/\">one<\/a> against 33 states, the <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/greenpeace-nordic-assn-and-nature-youth-v-norway-ministry-of-petroleum-and-energy\/\">other<\/a> against Norway (which is a defendant also in the former case). Complaints were filed also in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/a-sud-et-al-v-italy\/\">Italy<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/greenpeace-v-spain-ii\/\">Spain<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/gorska-et-al-v-poland\/\">Poland<\/a>, and again in the <a href=\"https:\/\/planb.earth\/plan-b-v-government-bailouts-for-polluters\/\">UK<\/a>, but especially in <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-jurisdiction\/germany\/\">Germany<\/a>, which seems to have inherited the role of youth-led litigation hub.<\/p>\n<p>The map shows how much youth-led climate litigation has affected individual states by considering how often they were sued. The light shade indicates states that were (or are) defendants in fewer than three cases. The dark shade signals 10 cases or more. The intermediate shade covers the rest.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16953 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-2-600x277.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-2-600x277.png 600w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-2-1200x554.png 1200w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-2-375x173.png 375w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-2-150x69.png 150w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-2.png 1472w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Until 2017, individual cases have been essentially domestic, meaning that the plaintiffs were invariably all nationals or residents of the forum state (we say \u201cessentially\u201d because, in a way, climate litigation always straddles borders, as do the adverse effects that it seeks to offset do).<\/p>\n<p>Chart 1 reflects the distribution of such domestic complaints over time (by date of filing) and across the North-South divide. Within the category of \u201cdomestic complaints\u201d we also included those lodged with an international adjudicative body against the country of which the plaintiff is a national or resident.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16952 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-1-600x451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"490\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-1-600x451.jpg 600w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-1-1200x902.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-1-375x282.jpg 375w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-1-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-1.jpg 1468w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Chart 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As Chart 2 shows, in 2019-2020 there has been a spike in transnational complaints (i.e. brought by foreigners), largely driven by the structure of the multistate complaints brought before the CRC and the Strasbourg Court. The drop in 2021, as we shall see, may not be entirely accidental.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16951 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-2-600x451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"422\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-2-600x451.jpg 600w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-2-1200x901.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-2-375x282.jpg 375w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-2-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-2.jpg 1471w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 422px) 100vw, 422px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Chart 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Transnational Geometries<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In order to provide a nuanced view of the phenomenon, we gave the concept of \u201ctransnational complaint\u201d a broad and informal meaning. In it, we included cases where a petitioner is either a national or resident of a state other than the forum state or has a diaspora or temporary migration background, provided that the complaint shows concern about the effects of climate change on living conditions in the country of origin. Two cases filed in <a href=\"https:\/\/planb.earth\/plan-b-v-uk\/\">2017<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/planb.earth\/plan-b-v-government-bailouts-for-polluters\/\">2021<\/a> with UK courts by the London-based charity <a href=\"https:\/\/planb.earth\/\">Plan B<\/a> and several young petitioners are illustrative of this point.<\/p>\n<p>In an application for permission to appeal lodged on 27 December 2021, the petitioners point out that \u201cyoung people [\u2026] with families in the Global South are exposed to disproportionate and discriminatory risk\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/planb.earth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Skeleton-CA-permission-final.pdf\">here<\/a>, at para. 76). Taken together, these cases feature <em>ratione<\/em> <em>personarum<\/em> links with Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica. Transnational complaints were also brought before the CJEU (applicants in the so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/peoplesclimatecase.caneurope.org\/who-we-are\/\"><em>People\u2019s Climate Case<\/em><\/a> include citizens of Fiji and Kenya) as well as before the German Constitutional Court (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.duh.de\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/download\/Pressemitteilungen\/Umweltpolitik\/Klimaschutz\/Verfassungsbeschwerde_Klimaklage_Yi_Yi_Prue_et_al_final_geschw%C3%A4rzt-Anhang_01.pdf\"><em>Yi Yi Prue et al. v Germany<\/em><\/a>, joined to the better-known <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/neubauer-et-al-v-germany\/\"><em>Neubauer<\/em><\/a>, involves citizens of Bangladesh and Nepal).<\/p>\n<p>The map shows the geography of transnational claims, marking states sued by foreigners (in the above-mentioned broad sense) in dark grey, states from which such claims originate in green, and states falling in both categories in red.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16950 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-1-600x277.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-1-600x277.png 600w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-1-1200x554.png 1200w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-1-375x173.png 375w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-1-150x69.png 150w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Map-1.png 1472w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The transnational dimension is most notably present in cases brought before international bodies. With plaintiffs hailing from 12 different countries and five defendant states, <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/sacchi-et-al-v-argentina-et-al\/\"><em>Sacchi et al. v Argentina et al.<\/em><\/a>, the case the CRC dismissed, breaks down into a bundle of 56 transnational complaints (counting only once complaints coming from the same country), 34 against the Global North (of which 10 intra-North) and 22 against the Global South (of which 14 intra-South).<\/p>\n<p>As Chart 3 shows, transnational complaints against states in the Global North are prevalent. North-versus-North complaints are more numerous than South-versus-North ones because of <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/youth-for-climate-justice-v-austria-et-al\/\"><em>Duarte Agostinho et al. v Portugal and 32 Other States<\/em><\/a>, the multistate intra-North case brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by Portuguese youths. It is worth noting that this complaint originates from a state with a relatively low per capita income and an emission record that is not nearly as bad as that of many other states in the Global North. But the picture would change if, in calculating Portugal\u2019s historical contribution to climate change, its long-standing role as a colonial power were factored in.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-16949 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-3-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-3-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-3-1200x901.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-3-375x282.jpg 375w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-3-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Chart-3.jpg 1472w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Chart 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this regard, it is noteworthy that, in an international setting where consensus on criteria for apportioning the burden of climate change mitigation remains elusive, even young petitioners seem to hesitate between historical and current emissions. The plaintiffs before the CRC relied on the latter criterion. They selected the five largest current emitters from among the 47 states then bound by the Additional Protocol, with the sole exception of France, which would be in sixth place after Italy (by a small margin) but enjoys higher international standing. The Portuguese youths, by contrast, applied the former criterion. Among the 47 states parties to the ECHR, they first picked the EU Members <em>en bloc<\/em> (which is why even Malta is on the list) and then singled out the other six defendants based on historical emissions, as evidenced by the fact that three state parties not sued \u2013 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Azerbaijan, a small oil power \u2013 currently emit more than at least one of the six selected (we relied on <a href=\"https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions\">Our World in Data<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Foreclosing Transnational Complaints?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The strategy of challenging a plurality of states <em>directly<\/em> before international adjudicating bodies has been, so far, a youth\u2019s distinct move in the field of climate litigation, and it is by far the largest vehicle for transnational complaints. As is known, that strategy failed at the CRC, which reaffirmed the importance of engaging domestic courts first, \u201cbecause pathways to justice must be built from the ground up\u201d (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/Documents\/HRBodies\/CRC\/Open_letter_on_climate_change.pdf\">here<\/a>, at 3). The petitioners were right to point out that a multistate claim would have certainly failed domestically, because of foreign state immunity. However, the CRC sidestepped the objection by noting that such claims create themselves the problem of immunity and are not \u201cnecessary to bring effective relief\u201d (see <a href=\"https:\/\/documents-dds-ny.un.org\/doc\/UNDOC\/GEN\/G21\/320\/72\/PDF\/G2132072.pdf?OpenElement\">here<\/a>, para. 10.18). It will be interesting to see whether the ECtHR will follow the CRC in the multistate case pending before it.<\/p>\n<p>Be that as it may, the reasoning by which the CRC dismissed the multistate case does not apply to transnational complaints against <em>single<\/em> states. As already noted, there are as many as 56 such claims nested in the communication filed by Ms. Thunberg and her associates. Now, the CRC encouraged transnational complaints insofar as it established that any state that fails to prevent greenhouse gas emissions compounds a climate crisis that may result in human rights violations anywhere in the world, especially at the expense of children (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/Documents\/HRBodies\/CRC\/Open_letter_on_climate_change.pdf\">here<\/a>, at 2). Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.childrensrightsobservatory.nl\/case-notes\/casenote2021-10\">Wewerinke-Singh<\/a> persuasively argued that the CRC should have declared the transnational claims made by Marshallese children admissible on grounds of urgency. However, on closer inspection, the CRC should have in principle admitted all the 56 transnational claims, because the defendant states emphatically rejected the notion that they could be held responsible for human rights violations that climate change may cause on the territory of other states (see, e.g., Germany\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/documents-dds-ny.un.org\/doc\/UNDOC\/GEN\/G21\/322\/67\/PDF\/G2132267.pdf?OpenElement\">position<\/a> at paras 4.7 and 7.4).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, domestic courts may not share the government\u2019s opinion and instead follow the CRC\u2019s guidance on this issue. However, the <em>Neubauer<\/em> judgment, delivered by the German Constitutional Court months before the CRC\u2019s ruling, points in a different direction. For the Court, the claims made by nationals of Nepal and Bangladesh were non-justiciable (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de\/SharedDocs\/Downloads\/EN\/2021\/03\/rs20210324_1bvr265618en.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&amp;v=5\">here<\/a>, at paras 173-181). The German government\u2019s position and the Court\u2019s differ. For the government, the state\u2019s lack of jurisdiction over transnational claims is obvious and incurable. For the Court, the matter is not so simple, but for all practical purposes the outcome is the same and the judgment has seemingly already produced a chilling effect on such claims: none of the eight post-<em>Neubauer<\/em> constitutional complaints includes foreign youth among the applicants.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ways Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The CRC\u2019s dismissal of <a href=\"http:\/\/climatecasechart.com\/climate-change-litigation\/non-us-case\/sacchi-et-al-v-argentina-et-al\/\"><em>Sacchi et al. v Argentina et al.<\/em><\/a> caused understandable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/node\/380363\/printable\/print\">disappointment<\/a> among young climate activists. However, the CRC\u2019s opinion is not without wisdom, insofar as it promotes extensive recourse to domestic courts, whose rulings are likely to be more influential than the CRC\u2019s, especially vis-\u00e0-vis national governments. At the UN level, it is unlikely that the Human Rights Committee (before which <em>further<\/em> major emitters could be sued) would treat the exhaustion of domestic remedies differently. As for the ECtHR, however it settles the matter, it is still a regional court. Has the CRC\u2019s ruling shattered the dream of a global trial against adults who do not obey Lovejoy\u2019s Law?<\/p>\n<p>Barring an ecocide trial before the International Criminal Court, the closest one can get to realising such a vision is having advisory proceedings at the ICJ, where young people could address the bench as co-counsels for states most affected by climate change. WYCJ is wise to pursue this initiative and it may well find not a few allies among states of the Global South. Meanwhile, the global youth movement, in addition to attending adult-dominated COPs, should perhaps organise its own meetings to discuss and set parameters for allocating mitigation burdens among states. It should be clear by now that, despite Lovejoy\u2019s Law, intergenerational love does not yield equity.<\/p>\n<p>Solidarity with those who suffer most from the negative impact of global warming is more likely to emerge from an assembly of young people, in which, if only for demographic reasons, demands from the Global South should carry overwhelming political weight. If, unlike adults entangled in all sorts of interests, youth can agree on a general scheme for emissions reduction, that scheme could serve as a touchstone for coordinating claims before national courts. Once complaints concerning emissions reduction targets \u2013 which are now prevalent \u2013 come to incorporate Global South\u2019s viewpoints, there would be no need to involve foreign claimants: youth in the North would defend the interests of their counterparts in the South based on a global compact on the allocation of mitigation burdens.<\/p>\n<p>The CRC\u2019s ruling may have encouraged youths from the Global South to file transnational claims with domestic courts in the North, but a powerful institution like the German Constitutional Court disallowed such actions. Since the risk of seeing them rejected is high, it may be worth taking it only if plaintiffs from the Global South seek compensation for the damage caused by abnormal weather events, instead of joining in the claim for prospective remedies, which local plaintiffs can press by themselves in accordance with the compact. Wealthy backers of climate litigation could support the filing of such cases on an experimental basis, helping Global South youth to sue for damages states with dismal emission reduction records and, why not, private corporations as well.<\/p>\n<p>Disclaimer: Maps (created with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mapchart.net\/\">Mapchart<\/a>) and charts are the authors\u2019 work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Greta Thunberg invited us adults to panic, few of us thought that she was about to sue, if only because litigation is quintessentially a game for grown-ups. On 23 September 2019, the day of the UN Climate Action Summit, Ms Thunberg and 15 other minors from 12 states and five continents filed a complaint [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6639],"tags":[],"authors":[6976,6975],"article-categories":[3572],"doi":[],"class_list":["post-16948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","authors-lorenzo-gradoni","authors-martina-mantovani","article-categories-symposium"],"acf":{"subline":"Mapping Youth-Led Climate Change Litigation across the North-South Divide"},"meta_box":{"doi":"10.17176\/20220323-120941-0"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16948"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16990,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16948\/revisions\/16990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16948"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=16948"},{"taxonomy":"article-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-categories?post=16948"},{"taxonomy":"doi","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/voelkerrechtsblog.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doi?post=16948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}