The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg on Wednesday heard court cases related to climate change for the first time. Climate protectors speak of a possible milestone.
These included a lawsuit from the Swiss Association for Women Climate Seniors – the 2,000 women who are part of it, with an average age of 73, see their health as particularly threatened by global warming and rising temperatures .
With their lawsuit at the ECtHR, the climate seniors want to ensure that Switzerland is forced by a court order to provide more climate protection. According to her, her country is not doing enough to combat climate change and is therefore violating human rights.
Probably won’t judge for a few months
The court must now examine whether and how human rights oblige individual states to stop climate change. A ruling is not expected for several months. At the beginning of the proceedings, many climate seniors traveled to the court in Strasbourg.
The negotiating room was packed and hundreds of people were standing in front of it. “We have been fighting for this for years,” Bruna Molinari, 81, told AFP. “We hope the court agrees with us and that Switzerland needs to do more than it has done so far.”
Greenpeace supports climate seniors
“We are convinced that with this case we can make history and get Switzerland to do more climate protection,” said Anne Mahrer, co-chair of the Swiss Climate Seniors. They are being assisted in their lawsuit by Greenpeace. “Today has the potential to go down in history as a milestone in the global fight against the climate catastrophe that is becoming increasingly apparent,” the environmental protection organization said.
Greenpeace emphasized that for the first time in its history, the ECtHR was substantively engaged in a procedure on the effects of climate change on human rights. The procedure will clarify “whether and to what extent a country like Switzerland needs to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions more in order to protect human rights”.
Climate case hearing against France
The court also wanted to start hearing a climate case against France on Wednesday. Plaintiff is a former mayor of a city in northern France threatened by sea level rise. In a third climate case before the ECtHR, which will probably not be heard until after the summer, several Portuguese have appealed to the court about the environmentally harmful greenhouse gas emissions of 32 states of the Council of Europe.
Source: Krone
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