Six young people from Portugal argued that governments across Europe aren't doing enough to protect people from the harms of climate change at the European Court of Human Rights on Sept. 27, in the latest and largest instance of activists taking governments to court to force climate action.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 It's yours.
00:02 Thank you.
00:04 Never before have so many countries brought before a court.
00:25 This is the director of the Global Legal Action Network.
00:28 And since 2017, we've been working with the courageous...
00:33 The six young people who are bringing this case before the European Court of Human Rights
00:37 have experienced direct harm from the emissions of 32 countries.
00:41 So we're talking about heat extremes, which will impact their ability to exercise, live outdoors.
00:46 They'll be confined indoors for significant periods of time within their lifetime.
00:50 So we're talking about concrete harm.
00:52 And we're talking about emissions from across Europe impacting them.
00:56 The hearing today could be an opportunity to deliver a legally binding decision
01:01 that would require governments to act, because they have failed to act
01:05 despite having the resources to adopt more ambitious climate policies.
01:23 The case concerns complaints under Articles 2, 3, 8 and 14 of the Convention
01:28 as regards the impacts of climate change, which the applicants consider
01:32 to be imputable to the 33 respondent states, and in particular
01:37 to the phenomenon of global warming, resulting, among other things,
01:41 in heat waves and wildfires affecting the applicants' lives and health.
01:46 It is a privilege to address you today on behalf of the applicants.
01:51 They are Claudia, Katerina, MartÃn, Sofia, André and Mariana.
02:00 Today's case is about the young.
02:04 It is about the price that they are paying for the failure of states
02:10 to tackle the climate emergency.
02:13 It is about the harm that they will suffer during their lifetimes
02:19 unless states step up to their responsibilities.
02:24 The alarm is right. The alarm and what they are saying
02:35 is actually something that we should carefully listen to.
02:39 How the state will respond, if it is 33, if it is 46, if it is beyond that,
02:46 the time will tell. But what I can confirm and what I think is relevant,
02:51 that this should be taken with seriousness, with recognition of the problem,
02:57 that is much bigger, I would say, than what we heard today.
03:00 In 2017, we wanted to do more action. I was 12, André was 9.
03:15 Because we thought it was the right time, it was one of the best times,
03:18 because we were dealing with climate anxiety, a great climate anxiety,
03:23 and also because we thought it was now or never, we showed our voice.
03:28 In Portugal, what we have the most is heat waves and extreme drought,
03:33 which is in fatal cases.
03:36 That is, this heat is directly influencing our right to life
03:40 and also another very important right that we have within the case,
03:43 the other two, which are directly to private life.
03:46 For example, I want to be in my room studying or sleeping,
03:52 but it is so hot that it makes it difficult.
03:55 I want to go out, do some physical activity, ride a bike, play basketball,
03:59 but it is so hot that it is not possible.
04:11 It is the young people who will feel more aggression
04:16 towards climate change simply because they will live longer.
04:20 But that does not mean that our parents will not suffer either.
04:23 When they are older, when they are reformed and want to enjoy their reformed life,
04:29 they will have to live here in Portugal with 43 degree heat waves
04:33 and dangers that will be even more dangerous for them.
04:36 I think that is not fair, it should not be aggravating for each generation.
04:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]