Climate Change: ICJ Ruling Is A Landmark Win For Children

The historic climate change ruling at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today is a landmark win for child campaigners, acknowledging the adverse impacts of climate change on child rights, and offering children renewed hope, Save the Children said.

The Advisory Opinion delivered by the world’s highest court finds that states’ legal obligations to address climate change extend beyond existing climate agreements. It also found that "states must take their obligations under international human rights law into account when implementing their obligations under the climate change treaties and other relevant environmental treaties."

While not legally binding, leading environmental lawyers say the ruling "could become a guiding star for climate policies at all levels of governance", including how States are held accountable under multiple areas of international law.

The Advisory Opinion originated from an extensive campaign led by a group of law students from the Pacific Islands, with strong support from the Republic of Vanuatu [1].

In December last year, Vepaiamele, 16, a child campaigner with Save the Children Vanuatu, travelled to The Hague with the Government of Vanuatu - the only child to attend as part of a government delegation - to speak about the impacts of climate change on the Pacific island nation and call for action.

Vepaiamele said today: "This Advisory Opinion is everything I hoped for and I am so happy with this outcome as I know it will pave the way for a safer future for youth like myself and future generations, too."

Speaking from The Hague last year , Vepaiamele said:

"As a young Ni-Vanuatu girl, I feel the effects of climate change every day of every year. I've experienced many cyclones. It can be kind of terrifying sometimes, especially the really strong ones. Every cyclone, our classrooms are destroyed, our homes are flattened to the ground, and hospitals and communication towers are ripped apart. And then there's also the mental health impacts, and we don't really talk about it that much, but it can really cause anxiety in children and young people."

Human-induced climate change is driving up global temperatures, with the past 10 years the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Children, particularly those affected by inequality and discrimination, bear the brunt of climate change impacts that are already forcing them from their homes, putting food out of reach, damaging schools and increasing risks like child marriage as they are forced out of education and into poverty.

Limiting warming temperatures through the rapid phase-out of the use and subsidy of fossil fuels is critical for children’s rights and lives, Save the Children said.

Earlier this year, research released by the child rights organisation with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) found that the difference between global temperature rise of 1.5°C and 2.7°C could see 38 million more children from the 2020 birth cohort face unprecedented lifetime exposure to extreme heatwaves. [2] Save the Children also called for increased climate finance targeted at helping children and their families, child-centred and locally led adaptation and an increase in the participation of children in shaping climate action.

Save the Children New Zealand CEO Heather Campbell says, "The ICJ’s opinion strengthens the argument that climate inaction is a form of intergenerational injustice, disproportionately borne by those least responsible and least equipped to adapt.

"At home in Aotearoa New Zealand, children and their families are experiencing the devastating impacts of extensive flooding and other climate-related emergencies, including Cyclone Gabrielle. Communities across the Nelson Tasman region are still reeling from floods that have destroyed homes and farmland, displaced families and closed schools.

"On a recent visit to Solomon Islands, children told us about the impact rising sea levels were having on their communities, including monthly flooding in homes and schools, saline infiltration into fresh water supplies, and crops being destroyed. In other parts of the Pacific, communities are having to constantly rebuild after multiple cyclones in the last few years alone. These are not future scenarios - they are current realities.

"Save the Children welcomes the finding from the ICJ, and we also urge governments and development agencies to ensure that climate finance reaches those on the frontline of this crisis.

"Currently, only 2.4% of climate finance from multilateral funding sources is child centred. Even without the Court’s opinion, we know that states must do far more to protect children from the worst impacts of this crisis, including by significantly increasing climate finance to uphold children’s rights and access to health, education and protection."

In light of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion, Save the Children New Zealand is calling on the New Zealand Government to renew its commitment to provide climate finance to help communities recover from climate induced loss and damage as well as working to reduce the country’s carbon emissions.

As the world’s leading independent child rights organisation, Save the Children works in about 110 countries, tackling climate change across everything we do. Save the Children supports children and their communities across the Pacific and globally in preventing, preparing for, adapting to, and recovering from both sudden climate disasters and slow onset climate change. We have set up floating schools, rebuilt destroyed homes and provided cash grants to families hit by disasters.

We also work to influence governments and other key stakeholders in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world on climate policies, including at the UNFCCC COP summits, giving children a platform for their voices to be heard.

Notes:

[1] The Advisory Opinion is in response to a Pacific-led resolution (A/RES/77/276) to the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus on 29 March 2023. This was the result of an extensive campaign by a group of law students from the University of the South Pacific ( Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change ) with strong support from the Republic of Vanuatu. Save the Children has worked closely with the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change to ensure the voices of children and young people are incorporated into countries’ written and oral submissions to the Court. As part of her campaigning work, Vepaiamele and other activists met with embassies of high emitting countriesin Vanuatu ahead of the hearing to try and influence their submissions.

[2] The report found that, for children born in 2020, if global temperature rise is limited to 1.5°C rather than reaching 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels:

- About 38 million would be spared from facing unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves;
- About 8 million would avoid unprecedented lifetime exposure to crop failures;
- About 5 million would be spared from unprecedented lifetime exposure to river floods;
- About 5 million would avoid unprecedented lifetime exposure to tropical cyclones;
- About 2 million would avoid unprecedented lifetime exposure to droughts;
- About 1.5 million children would be spared unprecedented lifetime exposure to wildfires.

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