Students Want International Court Of Justice To Rule On Climate Change

ABC Pacific Beat -  Evan Wasuka

Image: ABC TV

A group of Pacific law students are campaigning to take the issue of climate change and human rights to the International Court of Justice to determine if states have a duty of care to protect its citizens.
The Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change are lobbying Pacific leaders and the public to raise the matter at the UN General Assembly, so it can be heard by the International Court of Justice.
The group's president, Solomon Yeo, said they want the court to issue an "advisory opinion".
Dr Matthew Scott of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Sweden said the timing for the campaign was good, given the international focus on climate change.
"It offers a unique opportunity to obtain definitive guidance from an internationally recognised authority on the international legal obligations of states," Dr Scott said.
Law student Belinda Rikimani said Pacific governments must act with urgency, and support the campaign.
An online petition has gathered several thousand signatures and the group is lobbying Pacific Island countries.
They'll be participating at a regional meeting this week and Mr Yeo plans to be at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting in Tuvalu in August.
Dr Scott said the while the International Court of Justice can deliver an authoritative legal judgement it can't compel states to act.
"So its power doesn't lie in its enforce ability but in its legal weight as the opinion of the highest court in the international community," said Dr Scott.

PACIFIC BEAT AUDIO: Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change 4m 24secs

Links

• Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change
• Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
• Are Countries of the Asia Pacific Considering Human Rights When Combating Climate Change?
• Background Brief: Key International Standards and Guidelines Relating to Displacement in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change
• The Integration of Human Rights in the Nationally Determined Contributions in Asia-Pacific to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
• Food, Sexual Violence and Climate Change
• Sparking Action on Human Rights and Climate Change in Southeast Asia
• Climate Change is Not Just an Environmental Issue