(Montreal) The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Wednesday that aims to ask the International Court of Justice to rule on the obligations of States in the face of the consequences of climate change.
It was Vanuatu, a Pacific island country that is threatened with extinction due to climate change, which introduced the resolution.
“Together, you are making history,” the UN secretary-general told the 132 states that sponsored the resolution.
“The advisory opinions of the Court – the principal judicial organ of the United Nations – are of considerable importance and can have a lasting impact on the international legal order,” added Antonio Guterres.
The UN’s International Court of Justice is the body’s highest court and can provide “an advisory opinion on any legal question” posed by states, Nilufer Oral told The Associated Press. The director of the Center for International Law at the University of Singapore clarified that “although the opinion is not binding, it would encourage states” to go back and examine what they have not done and what what they need to do to address the climate emergency.
In a statement to the UN on Wednesday, Antonio Guterres explained that the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States in the face of the consequences of climate change “would help the General Assembly, the UN and the Member States to take the bolder and stronger climate action our world desperately needs” and that this advice “could also guide the actions and conduct of states in their dealings with each other, as well as with respect to their own citizens. which is essential”.
The Vanuatu resolution specifically asks the International Court of Justice to answer these questions, including:
- “What are the obligations of States in international law with regard to the protection of the climate system and other components of the environment against anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases for States and for present generations? and future? »
- “What are, where States, by their actions or omissions, have caused significant damage to the climate system and other components of the environment, the legal consequences of these obligations towards: States, including, in particular, small island states […] particularly vulnerable”.
A victory of “epic proportions”
Vanuatu is hit by increasingly frequent and violent cyclones and rising sea levels threaten the existence of several towns and villages in this archipelago of 83 islands.
After his country’s proposed resolution was passed, Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau said on Wednesday it was a “climate justice victory of epic proportions”.
He spoke of a series of recent disasters that have devastated parts of his country, including back-to-back Category 4 cyclones. He also mentioned Cyclone Freddy which has been crossing southeast Africa in recent weeks.
“Catastrophic and compound effects like this are on the rise,” he said.
With the Associated Press