The European Court received a complaint from six young people who claim that their countries “do not do enough to stop global warming.”
A group of young Portuguese, among 11 and 24 years, demanded To over 20 countries that are part of the European Union (EU) for not preventing the spread of climate change. “The case concerns the impact of climate change that the plaintiffs consider attributable to States, especially global warming translated into heat waves and forest fires that affect their lives and health,” said Siofra O’Learypresident of the Great Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)where the complaint was filed.
The young complainants – who claimed that they began to suffer anxiety for their health in the face of the climate crisis – presented the document after the massive forest fires that were registered in Portugal in 2017, by those who alleged allergies and respiratory problems both during the fires and after.
“European governments they don’t protect us“, he claimed Andre Oliveira, 15 years old, one of the six young people who brought the case to court. Along with his five co-plaintiffs, he accused the 27 EU countriesin addition to Russia, Türkiye, Switzerland, Norway and United Kingdom of not having sufficiently limited the Emissions of greenhouse gases.
image.png
The ECtHR cataloged the case as “priority issue“and entrusted it to the highest chamber within the court, made up of 17 judges. They must examine the admissibility of the claim, given that the young people appealed directly to the ECtHR without having gone through the state courts.
The lawyers of the States admitted the importance of climate change, but defended that the struggle of these young people did not correspond to the European court. For her part, the British representative Sudhanshu Swaroop assured that, as they were Portuguese citizens and residents, the case was Lisbon problemwho had already argued that “the young people did not prove to be personally victims“.
The history of environmental complaints
Until now, the court’s decisions on environmental matters did not cover global warmingbut issues such as natural disasters and the industrial contamination. However, this is not the first time that activists they turn to justice to force governments to act against climate change.
In August, a state court Mountainin USAruled in favor of a group of young people who accuse local authorities of violate your rights still clean environment.
Furthermore – and according to the data of the United Nations Organization (UN)-, The number of litigation linked to climate more than doubled between 2017 and 2022 worldwide. This was generated due to the government inaction in climate matters, and the permanence of companies that generate great pollution.
Source: Ambito
