Nations in the Pacific and Caribbean regions have backed Vanuatu in its call for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ legal obligations to protect people from climate harm.
Vanuatu— which is formed of more than 80 islands stretched across 1,300 kilometres— is facing sea level rise and increasingly powerful cyclones that periodically cripple its economy.
The decision by the Pacific Island state to take the issue to the UN’s main judicial arm was informed by the lack of a clear commitment on the part of world powers to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on which the survival of vulnerable nations like Vanuatu depends.
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According to reports, the island of 310,000 will be needing a simple majority of countries at the UN general assembly in September to give the ICJ a mandate to act.
In his reaction, Odo Tevi, Vanuatu’s special climate envoy and permanent representative to the UN said that a successful vote “would send a clear signal to present and future generations that no stone is being left unturned in this critical decade to change course”.
The ICJ will have the responsibility of interpreting what international human rights and environmental laws mean for states’ responsibility to act on the causes and consequences of climate change under the proposal.
Although it has no enforcement powers and the exercise is not designed to win reparations for victims of climate disasters, an ICJ opinion could inform climate lawsuits around the world and – Vanuatu hopes – strengthen vulnerable countries’ position in international negotiations.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News.
