Andre, 15 and Sofia Oliveira, 18 pose for a picture in Almada, Portugal (Reuters)
Six young people from Portugal are accusing 32 European countries of failing to tackle the human-caused climate crisis. The European Court of Human Rights heard an “unprecedented” lawsuit on Wednesday, reported CNN.
Backed by the British-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), the Portuguese claimants, between ages 11 and 24 told the court that the government’s failure to act fast enough on climate change is a violation of their rights including life, physical and mental well-being. The case filed in September 2020 against the 27 EU member states as well as Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey – is the largest climate case ever to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, the media outlet reported.
If the claimants win the case, it will force countries to scale up their climate ambitions rapidly and offer a huge boost to the chances of other climate lawsuits worldwide. And if the court rules against the claimants, it could prove damaging for other climate claims, CNN report said.
For their part, the countries being sued have claimed in written submissions that none of the claimants has established they have suffered severe harm as a result of climate change.
“This is truly a David and Goliath case, that’s unprecedented in its scale (and) its potential impacts,” said Gearoid O Cuinn, the director of Global Legal Action Network, or GLAN, which has supported the claimants’ case.
“Never before have so many states had to defend themselves in front of anywhere in the world,” he told CNN.
The ruling in the case is expected in the first half of 2024.
“Due to heat extremes, I’m limited in how I exercise and how much time I can spend outdoors,” 15-year-old applicant Andre Oliveira told Reuters outside court. “I’m forced to stay inside, I struggle to sleep and thanks to the weak climate policies of these governments, things are getting worse.”
Catarina Mota, one of the claimants said that the journey to the court hearing began six years ago. “Everything started in 2017 with the fires.” She shared that devastating wildfires burned 500,000 hectares of Portugal and killed more than 100 people that year.
The disaster catalyzed the lawsuit.
Gerry Liston, one of GLAN’s lawyers, said: “Portugal stood up on behalf of all respondent states and claimed what the applicants had been describing was just a figment of their imagination and that’s gaslighting.”