<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/02/handful-of-countries-responsible-for-climate-crisis-icj-court-told>
"A handful of countries should be held legally responsible for the ongoing
impacts of climate change, representatives of vulnerable states have told
judges at the international court of justice (ICJ).
During a hearing at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which began on Monday, Ralph
Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change and environment, said
responsibility for the climate crisis lay squarely with “a handful of readily
identifiable states” that had produced the vast majority of greenhouse gas
emissions but stood to lose the least from the impacts.
The court heard how Pacific island states such as Vanuatu were bearing the
brunt of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent and severe disasters. “We
find ourselves on the frontlines of a crisis we did not create,” Regenvanu
said.
The hearing is the culmination of years of campaigning by a group of Pacific
island law students and diplomacy spearheaded by Vanuatu. In March last year
the UN general assembly unanimously approved a resolution calling on the ICJ to
provide an advisory opinion on what obligations states have to tackle climate
change and what the legal consequences could be if they fail to do so.
Over the next two weeks, the court will hear statements from 98 countries,
including wealthy developed states with the greatest historical responsibility
for the climate emergency, such as the UK and Russia, and states that have
contributed very little to global greenhouse gas emissions but stand to bear
the brunt of their impact, including Bangladesh and Sudan as well as Pacific
island countries.
The US and China, the world’s biggest emitters, will make statements too, even
though neither fully recognises the court’s authority.
Regenvanu told the court that states continued to emit vast amounts of
greenhouse gases in spite of “increasingly dire warnings” from scientists,
noting that emissions had increased by more than 50% since 1990.
The court will publish written statements submitted to it as part of the
advisory opinion process, a number of which will include personal testimonies
from people affected or severely threatened by climate change.
Ilan Kiloe, the legal counsel for the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a regional
subgroup that includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu,
said: “The harsh reality is that many of our peoples will not survive.”
Kiloe said the climate crisis threatened the right of states to
self-determination and that the injustice of climate change was inseparable
from colonialism, which these countries had been subjected to by “a few readily
identifiable states”.
He said: “We have not yet recovered from the ongoing violence … inflicted on us
as we struggle to rebuild and assert ourselves within a system we did not
create.”
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, the lead counsel for Vanuatu and the Melanesian
Spearhead Group, said some states had breached international law through their
acts and omissions."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
