UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Turns its Back on Climate Change Petition from Greta Thunberg and Children from Around the World. The Committee instructs the youth to each file claims in 5 countries, squander years in procedural delays, and then return to the UN after they’ve lost in national courts. The message to children is “You’re on your own.”
October 11, 2021 (Washington, D.C.) – In a stunning decision, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the global human rights body tasked with protecting children’s rights, refused to hear the case of 16 youth from around the world who are threatened by the climate crisis. Represented by a team of human rights and environmental lawyers from Hausfeld and Earthjustice, the youth argued that five G20 countries—Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey—are violating their rights to life, health, and culture under the Convention on the Rights of the Child by failing to curb greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would limit global warming to 1.5°C, a target set by climate science and the Paris Agreement.
Today, the Committee delivered a rebuke to young people around the world who are demanding immediate action on the climate crisis. In dismissing the case, the Committee told children that climate change is a dire global emergency, but the UN’s doors are closed to them.
The petitioners won on several of the most challenging legal issues in climate litigation. The Committee accepted their arguments that states are legally responsible for the harmful effects of emissions originating in their territory on children outside their borders. The fact that all states are causing climate change, the Committee held, does not absolve states of individual responsibility to reduce their own share of emissions. The Committee also found that the youth are victims of foreseeable threats to their rights to life, health, and culture.
Yet this was a hollow victory. The Committee also held that the petitioners must first bring lawsuits in each of the five state’s national courts—despite tomes of case law and expert evidence showing that none of those cases would succeed. In the cases of Germany and Turkey, for example, the Committee disregarded national court decisions that would deny foreign nationals the right to bring environmental claims.
In effect, the Committee instructed the youth to squander years waiting for inevitable dismissal. For petitioner Litokne Kabua and other children from the Marshall Islands in the south Pacific, there is simply no time to file a climate change case in every state in the world that is fueling global warming: if emissions are not immediately reduced, the Marshall Islands will likely be submerged in the ocean within the children’s lifetime.
“I have no doubt this judgment will haunt the Committee in the future,” said petitioner Alexandria Villasenor. “When the climate disasters are even more severe than they are now, the Committee will severely regret not doing the right thing when they had the chance. Children are increasingly on the frontlines of the climate crisis, accounting for over 80% of climate related deaths. Yet again, the adults have failed to protect us.”
“We are going to continue to fight for pathways to justice for children staring down climate extinction,” said Scott Gilmore, lead counsel from global law firm Hausfeld. “The Committee acknowledged that states are legally obligated to act, that our clients’ lives are at risk, and that time is running out. But they still closed the UN’s doors. So be it. The legal battle for the climate now returns to national courts.”
“Once again, polluting states are given a free pass to perpetuate the climate crisis,” said co-lead counsel Ramin Pejan, Senior Attorney at environmental NGO Earthjustice. “Despite acknowledging that the 16 youths are already experiencing devastating impacts from climate change that will continue throughout their lifetime if immediate action is not taken, the Committee leaves them with no effective way to protect their rights.”
More responses from the youth:
Ayakha Melithafa (19, South Africa): I am disappointed with the Committee’s decision today, but also more determined than ever to use every platform available to me to keep fighting for my future. We are on the verge of an abyss and our political leaders must change course immediately – young people should not need to bring legal claims seeking to hold them to account for promises made. COP26 will take place in 20 days’ time, and governments must deliver action there that is of the scale and speed we need.
Catarina Lorenzo (14, Brazil): I am disappointed and worried. We have scientific proof that those countries are impacting our climate, and yet, this case was not accepted. We have our own stories to show how we are being impacted by the current climate change, and yet, the case was still not accepted. I am disappointed in the committee for not seeing this case as admissible in a moment in which we are desperate for real and effective action, as we are facing a crisis, the climate crisis.
Iris Duquesne (18, France): We are all very disappointed but unfortunately not surprised. We have seen governments and officials ignore the climate crisis over and over again and today was no exception. The fight for climate justice is not over, and we will keep pushing with or without the Committee’s help.
Read the September 2019 petition
Read the Petitioners’ stories
Read the FAQ about the petition
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Bridget Uebel
Global Chief Marketing Officer
+44 20 7936 0947
buebel@hausfeld.com
Deborah Schwartz
Media Relations
240 355 8838
deborah@mediarelationsinc.com
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Children Urge Norway to Block Arctic Oil and Gas Drilling to Protect Their Rights to Life and Health
Thursday, May 14, 2020 — The Hausfeld law firm, acting on behalf of 14 children including Greta Thunberg who are concerned about climate change, is urging the Norwegian Parliament to listen to their country’s scientists and cease all new oil and gas exploration in the Arctic.
Norwegian politicians will today consider whether to expand oil and gas drilling in the offshore “marginal ice zone” – where the Arctic sea ice meets the open ocean – or declare it a no-go zone to fossil fuel development.
In a letter sent on behalf of the 14 children, Hausfeld asks Norway to include knowledgeable child activists in any decision the country takes on what activity to allow in the marginal ice zone and any delegation sent to the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit in 2021. This is in accordance with Norway’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This is the second letter the children have sent to Norway, and is part of a wider campaign and legal action they are pursuing. In December, the children sent warning letters to Norway and Canada urging them to act on their international climate leadership by ending support for domestic fossil fuel expansion. Norway has not replied to the December letter, despite its obligation under the Convention on the Rights of the
Child to listen to children on matters that affect their right to life.
The children filed a petition with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in September 2019 against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey, accusing them of perpetuating the climate crisis by promoting fossil fuel expansion. By signing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the countries have committed to protecting children from direct, imminent and foreseeable risks to their health and wellbeing – including climate change, the children say.
As climate change causes the Arctic sea ice to shrink, there is growing industry pressure to expand oil and gas exploration. However, the science shows that existing fossil fuel projects already hold enough oil, gas and coal to push global warming beyond 2 degrees Celsius – and past the Paris Agreement’s commitment to limit warming to well below 2°C, and aim for 1.5°C. Research also shows that children alive today face increased risks of death and disease in a world that is fundamentally altered from fossil fuel emissions.
The Covid-19 pandemic reminds the world that governments must act as swiftly as possible, following the best available science, to protect their people from threats to life and health.
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Deborah Schwartz
Media Relations
(240) 355-8838
deborah@mediarelationsinc.com
About Hausfeld
Hausfeld is a leading global law firm with offices in Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Düsseldorf, London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Stockholm, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
The firm has a broad range of complex litigation expertise, particularly in antitrust/competition, financial services, sports and entertainment, environmental, mass torts, consumer protection, and human rights matters, often with an international dimension. Hausfeld aims to achieve the best possible results for clients through its practical and commercial approach, avoiding litigation where feasible, yet litigating robustly when necessary. Hausfeld’s extensive experience with alternative and innovative fee models offers clients a diverse menu of engagement options and maximum flexibility in terms of managing their cost exposure. Hausfeld is the only claimants’ firm to be ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a top tier firm in private enforcement of antitrust/competition law in both the United States and Europe. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and landmark settlements, please visit www.hausfeld.com.
This material is distributed by Hausfeld LLP on behalf of Environmental Youth Activists. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 5, 2020 — Sixteen children, including Greta Thunberg, are urging a UN committee to admit their claim against five big-emitting countries, arguing that the governments are legally obliged to protect them from direct, imminent and foreseeable risk to their health and wellbeing.
The children’s filing with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, submitted by the law firm Hausfeld and nonprofit environmental public interest law organization Earthjustice on May 4, is a follow-up to the legal complaint they lodged in September 2019 against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey. They accuse the five countries of breaching their obligations under the international Convention on the Rights of Child by promoting fossil fuels and failing to curb greenhouse gas emissions for decades — despite knowing about the risks of climate change. Brazil, France and Germany replied to the petition, saying it was not admissible on three grounds:
- The committee lacks jurisdiction.
- The communication is manifestly ill-founded or unsubstantiated.
- Petitioners haven’t exhausted domestic remedies.
They also claimed — falsely — that the climate crisis is so global that no state bears any responsibility, so universally dangerous that no child has standing to complain, and so complex that it’s up to governments to resolve within their own borders.
The children’s response this week counters that these objections are baseless, and that the countries should be judged for their conduct rather than words.
No state acting in the best interest of the child would impose the devastating burden of weak climate policies on young and future generations the way these five countries have done, they say.
Brazil, France and Germany are failing to do their share in meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement’s more ambitious goal, to limit global warming to 1.5°C, despite the scientific consensus demonstrating that this pathway is the minimum necessary to prevent irreversible threats to human rights. They’re also taking measures to accelerate rather than mitigate climate change, such as subsidizing fossil fuels. By
delaying decarbonization, they are failing to prioritize the best interests of the child, the petitioners say.
Children are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change because, as the Lancet Countdown states, they face increased death and disease from it.
The delay in limiting global warming by Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey imposes irreversible costs on young and future generations, the children say, as scientists warn that it will be impossible to make up for lost time if substantial emissions reductions are further delayed.
The children’s response also set out three reasons why their petition is admissible in the Committee on the Rights of the Child:
- The children are directly and foreseeably injured by the greenhouse gases
emitted from the five countries, which are obliged to protect them under the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. - The petitioners can establish the basic scientific facts proving that they are
injured by climate change and that the countries are contributing to this harm. - It would be “futile” to argue this case in separate domestic lawsuits because it
would not provide the type of far-reaching international relief needed to reverse
climate change.
Background:
Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey are the biggest climate polluters out of the 46 countries that have adopted an optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which allows for this communication.
The children’s petition calls on the five countries to immediately take binding, international, cooperative and coordinated action to limit global warming in line with the scientific recommendation of 1.5°C. It draws on expert analysis and personal stories to show how the effects of climate change — such as hurricanes, droughts, sea-level rise and the collapse of food systems — have violated, and will violate, each
petitioner’s human rights by threatening their physical survival, impairing their physical and psychological development and harming their health.
The petitioners are between the ages of eight and 17 and come from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia and the United States. They include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who sparked the global youth climate movement in 2018, and Alexandria Villaseñor, who was inspired by Greta and co-founded the U.S. Youth Climate Strike. Emissions from all five countries are on track for more than 3°C of warming.
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Deborah Schwartz
Media Relations
(240) 355-8838
deborah@mediarelationsinc.com
Siham Zniber
Press Secretary, Climate & Energy
szniber@earthjustice.org
About Hausfeld
Hausfeld is a leading global law firm with offices in Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Düsseldorf, London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, Stockholm, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The firm has a broad range of complex litigation expertise, particularly in antitrust/competition, financial services, sports and entertainment, environmental, mass torts, consumer protection, and human rights matters, often with an international dimension. Hausfeld aims to achieve the best possible results for clients through its practical and commercial approach, avoiding litigation where feasible, yet litigating robustly when necessary. Hausfeld’s extensive experience with alternative and innovative fee models offers clients a diverse menu of engagement options and maximum flexibility in terms of managing their cost exposure. Hausfeld is the only claimants’ firm to be ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a top tier firm in private enforcement of antitrust/competition law in both the United States and Europe. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and landmark settlements, please visit www.hausfeld.com.
About Earthjustice
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer. Visit www.earthjustice.org to learn more.
This material is distributed by Hausfeld LLP on behalf of Environmental Youth Activists. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.