Six young Portuguese people sue 32 countries before the European Court of Human Rights for climate inaction: "We are fighting for our lives"

The mobilizations in the streets to demand that the rulers take measures to alleviate the effects of climate change are giving way to actions in the courts to try to force them to take them.. In line with other judicial processes undertaken in the world, six young people from Portugal between the ages of 11 and 23 presented a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2020 against 32 countries in which they allege that they are failing to meet their human rights obligations by not doing enough to protect them from climate change.

This Wednesday the court hearing will finally be held in Strasbourg: “We were afraid, but we do not regret it because we know that we are fighting for our lives,” Cláudia Agostinho (24 years old), one of the six young plaintiffs, told the Efe agency.

Also participating in the lawsuit are Mariana Agostinho (11 years old), André Oliveira (15), Sofia Oliveira (18), Martim Agostinho (20) and Catarina Mota (23).. The six decided to bring the 27 member states of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey, to the ECHR, after the devastating fires that Portugal suffered in 2017.. Four of the young people live in the Leiria district, about 140 kilometers from Lisbon, which was one of the areas affected by the wave of fires that left a hundred dead in different parts of Portugal.

The tragedy, they explain, was what prompted them to take those countries to court for not doing enough to protect them from the climate crisis.. In their writing, they allege that the fires that have occurred in Portugal since that fateful 2017 are a direct consequence of climate change that entails risks to their health.. Thus, they claim that they suffer from sleep disturbances, allergies, respiratory problems that have been aggravated by the rise in temperatures as a result of climate change, and anxiety.

If their lawsuit is successful, these 32 countries could be legally obliged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, as detailed by Amnesty International, one of the groups that signed a brief presented to the court, arguing that governments have the obligation to protect human rights internationally through its climate policies.

“As in so many other places, young people are leading the way and showing that there are legal avenues to achieve climate justice. “While this case is very important, it is only one of several underway to ensure the protection of everyone's right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” Mandi Mudarikwa, Amnesty's Director of Strategic Litigation, said in a statement. International.

The court hearing for the Portuguese activists' lawsuit comes after a meteorologically extreme summer that saw intense heat waves, devastating forest fires and destructive torrential rains that climate scientists have linked to climate change..

A week ago, the UN held the Ambition Summit in New York, a preparatory mini-climate summit for the COP28 Climate Summit that will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12, the event in which countries will negotiate their plans to cut CO2 emissions and aid funds for developing countries to adapt and alleviate the effects of climate change. Effects that, according to these young people, are already felt in all parts of the world.

However, Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, one of the sued countries, announced last week that he would reverse some of the measures of the plan promoted by his predecessor, Boris Johnson, to achieve the goal of zero emissions.. In addition, the largest oil field yet to be exploited in the North Sea has just been given the green light..

Mandi Mudarikwa, of Amnesty International, emphasizes that “this generation, as well as their sons and daughters, will suffer the worst consequences of the looming climate catastrophe”, which is why she considers “it is essential that States act now to stop this growing catastrophe and comply with its obligation to keep the increase in global average temperature below 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels”. To do this, he calls for “the progressive abandonment of fossil fuels.”

Violation of rights

In the case initiated by these six young Portuguese women, called Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 31 Other States, the Human Rights Court will examine the claimants' argument that their rights are being violated under the following articles of the European Convention on Human Rights: the right to life (Article 2), the right freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (article 3), the right to private and family life (article 8) and the right not to suffer discrimination on grounds of age (article 14 interpreted in conjunction with article 2 and/or article 8), as detailed by Amnesty International, which believes that the Court's decision could be announced in a few months.

The plaintiffs also support their claim in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the 2015 Paris Agreement reached during the climate summit in the French capital, in which it was decided that countries would do everything possible to prevent Temperatures at the end of the century will exceed those at the beginning of the industrial era by more than 1.5 degrees.

Binding sentences

The rulings of the European Court of Human Rights are binding on the states involved, so its decision, Amnesty International maintains, could influence other cases before national courts in Europe and reinforce future climate lawsuits filed in national courts.

The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) has launched an international fundraising initiative (crowfunding) to obtain financing for the cause of the six young Portuguese.

There are currently two other climate cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights against Switzerland and France. One of them was presented by the Association of Older Women for Climate Protection (Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz) and four of its members individually against Switzerland, and the other by the French parliamentarian for the Greens Damien Carême, who alleges that the policies Swiss and French climate policies do not protect their human rights.

In Spain, there was expectation this spring over the legal process initiated by the organizations Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción, Oxfam Intermón, the NGO Coordinator for Development and Fridays For Future against the Government of our country for climate inaction, specifically, for the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNIEC), approved in 2021, but the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal at the end of July.