The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Switzerland in a lawsuit brought by elderly women from that country. However, it rejects the lawsuit brought by six young Portuguese against Portugal and 31 other European countries.
The Strasbourg Court issued a ruling on Tuesday that is described as historic in favor of one of the three claims for insufficient action of the States limit climate change and has considered it Swiss violated the human rights of a group of elderly women
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), based in Strasbourg, has ruled against Switzerland in a lawsuit brought by elderly women from that country.
The President of the ECtHR, Síofra O’Leary, has pointed out that Switzerland has violated the rights of these women, united in the association Verein KlimaSeniorinnen, because “critical gaps” have been found in Switzerland’s climate change policy.
In concrete terms, European judges are of the opinion that Switzerland has failed to fulfill its obligations regarding the rights of these older women (more than half are over 75 years old) to prevent them from suffering the consequences of global warming.
They have noted that there are shortcomings in Swiss policies to quantify, through carbon pricing or otherwise, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
In the same vein, they confirm that Switzerland has in the past not respected the targets it set to reduce these emissions.
However, the judges quashed the media lawsuit against which six young Portuguese had been filed Portugalbut also against 31 other European countries that they wanted to condemn for insufficient policies to mitigate climate change.
The judges dismissed their allegations without examining the merits of the case in the first place, because the six plaintiffs ignored a fundamental rule of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), namely that the country’s domestic remedies must are exhausted. before taking a case to Strasbourg.
The young people had argued that the climate crisis had exempted them from that fundamental legal rule, but the ECtHR did not accept that argument.
In addition to the lawsuit brought by a group of elderly women from the association Verein KlimaSeniorinnen from Switzerland, the so-called ‘Duarte Agostinho’ case or the lawsuit filed by six young Portuguese against Portugal, a third one has been filed, in that case, against the government from France.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
