The ECHR recognized the fight for climate change as a fight for human rights

On Tuesday, April 9, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Switzerland for violating the Human Rights Convention. How reports Radio Française International (RFI), the ECtHR heard arguments from an association of elderly Swiss women who believe that government inaction in the face of climate change poses a threat to life in heat waves.

On the same day, the court rejected the claim of the former mayor of Grande Sainte against France and declared inadmissible the claim of a group of young people from Portugal against 32 states, including the EU and Russia.

The April 8 decision by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg sets a precedent by making the fight against climate change a human rights issue. A legally binding decision by the ECtHR should have an impact on the jurisprudence of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe.

Decision of the ECHR in Strasbourg, notes RFI, relevant in light of the latest report from the European Copernicus Observatory. Climatologists reported that March 2024 was already the tenth in a series of abnormally hot months of the year. The average temperature in March was 1.68°C above the same period in the pre-industrial era.

The decision, read out by Irish President Siofra O’Leary, said Switzerland had violated the “right to life” (Article 2) and the “right to respect for private and family life” (Article 8) by failing to take action to combat the change. climate change and failed to meet its greenhouse gas emission targets.

The lawsuit was brought by the KlimaSeniorinnen association, which represents 2,500 Swiss citizens over the age of 70.

Anne Mayer, one of Switzerland’s environmental activists, called the decision “historic” and said activists would ensure Berne complies with the court’s ruling.

Twenty-year-old Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who was present in Strasbourg on Tuesday, welcomed the ECHR decision.

• The UN believes that measures taken at the global level are not enough to keep the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial levels. On the eve of the climate conference in Dubai in December 2023, the UN published a report in which scientists emphasized that to limit global warming to 1.5°C relative to pre-industrial levels, we need to start reducing greenhouse gas emissions now. By 2030, just seven years from now, emissions must be cut by almost half.
• According to scientists, if current conditions continue, the level of warming could be 2.5-2.9°C. This will cause natural disasters on a global scale: floods and droughts, which will force hundreds of millions of people to migrate.
• The first decision of the ECHR judges in the field of ecology formally confirms that environmental problems and negative environmental changes can affect human rights.