[ad_1]
The youngest plaintiff is only eight years old: six children and young people from Portugal are taking extraordinary climate action against Germany and 32 other countries. Now they have achieved stage success.
Six children and young people from Portugal are putting pressure on Germany and 32 other European countries in the fight against climate change: the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg gave the green light to their extraordinary lawsuit against Germany and 32 other countries. He decided to continue with the lawsuit filed in early September. The complaint will be prioritized due to the importance and urgency of the issues raised, the ECHR said. The affected countries now have until the end of February to comment on the allegations.
The youngest applicant is only eight years old, the oldest 21 years old. They accuse all EU countries, as well as Norway, Russia, Great Britain, Turkey, Switzerland and Ukraine of having exacerbated the climate crisis and of having endangered the future of their generation. Their goal: The ECHR is supposed to encourage climate offenders to set higher national targets and reduce emissions caused by them and their international corporations around the world.
Occasion: devastating forest fires 2017
The Strasbourg decision caused much jubilation among the plaintiffs in Portugal. “It gives me great hope to know that the judges of the European Court of Human Rights recognize the urgency of our case,” said André Oliveira, 12, from Lisbon, who participates with his sister Sofía, 15 years old. When filing the lawsuit in early September, the youngest plaintiff, Mariana Agostinho, said: “I am very afraid of having to live on a sick planet.”
The specific motive for the action of the six young Portuguese from Leiria and Lisbon was the devastating forest fires in their country of origin in 2017, in which 110 people died. Images from the Pedrogão Grande region near Leiria went around the world: desperate motorists surrounded by flames posted heartbreaking live videos. A country road turned into a death trap and many people were burned to death in their cars. Scientists have confirmed that climate change played a role in this disaster, the complaint now says.
Unique suit
The application was prepared with the help of the non-governmental organization Global Legal Action Network (GLAN). The organization speaks of an “unprecedented action”. The ECHR decision is now “an important step towards a possible groundbreaking judgment on climate change.” The vast majority of lawsuits filed in the Strasbourg court were rejected and did not reach this stage, he said. “These brave young people have overcome a major hurdle in the process of reaching a verdict that will force European governments to accelerate their efforts against climate change,” GLAN legal adviser Gerry Liston said in a response.
The claim is unique in that you actually have to go to a national court before going to the ECHR. In the case of fighting cross-border climate change, it is not possible for adolescents to raise their concerns in 33 different countries and take them to the highest national courts, but that was the argument that has now been successful.
