13 de January de 2023 Blog By washington@cejil.org

Chile and Colombia join forces to ask regional human rights court for guidelines to respond to climate emergency

Chile and Colombia join forces to ask regional human rights court for guidelines to respond to climate emergency

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is the first human rights court to receive a request for an Advisory Opinion to address a problem of global dimensions.

On January 9, 2023, Chile and Colombia presented a request for an Advisory Opinion on climate change and human rights in a joint document signed by the Foreign Minister of Chile, Antonia Urrejola, and the Foreign Minister of Colombia, Alvaro Leyva, during Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s visit to his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric.

The countries stated that the request for an advisory opinion to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I-A Court) aims to support a fair, sustainable, and timely response to the climate emergency taking into account the obligations arising from International Human Rights Law. In the communiqué made public today, they stated that “there is a close link between the climate emergency and the impact on human rights, which requires inter-American standards to accelerate the response to the climate emergency”.

The Court’s response to the advisory opinion request will provide guidance to Colombia, Chile, and other states of the region for the development of policies and programs at the local, national, and international levels that uphold their commitments under the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) and other human rights and environmental treaties.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a global scientific leader on the subject, the climate emergency has devastating potential for life on earth. The IPCC has stated that if global warming continues to increase at the current rate, it could threaten human survival. In the Americas, the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report indicates that limited water resources as a result of glacial retreat in the Andes and altered regional precipitation cycles could greatly affect the people who live there, among other impacts. The current consequences of the emergency have high costs for vulnerable sectors of the population and affect a multiplicity of rights, including life, health, children’s rights, the right not to be forced to migrate, and the rights of indigenous peoples, among others.

The I-A Court has a historic opportunity to make legal contributions to address the climate crisis, taking into account the obligations to prevent and guarantee and protect human rights at the international level. The Court will have the opportunity to determine the scope of human rights obligations of states at the national level, subnational entities (cities, regions, or departments), the responsibility of non-state actors, and transnational, regional, and global obligations in the face of the climate emergency.

The I-A Court is the highest court in the Americas; in the 29 advisory opinions it has issued to date, it has addressed key issues for the development and protection of human rights in the region. Requests for advisory opinions, which can only be presented by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or states, as in this case, have addressed critical issues, such as democracy, the right to a clean and healthy environment, freedom of expression, and the rights of migrant children, among others.

The process that begins today requires that after the request for an advisory opinion is formalized, the I-A Court will make the questions it will answer available to the interested states and civil society; then, a period will be opened for the receipt of observations and amicus curiae briefs on the issues to be addressed. Next, an oral hearing will be opened to hear the interested parties. Finally, the Court will collect the information and observations and formulate an opinion containing its interpretation of the scope of the obligations of the states on the matter.

The year 2023 begins with hopes and eyes on the American region regarding the climate crisis. We congratulate the Governments of Chile and Colombia for this valuable initiative that will allow us to review the response to the climate crisis from a human rights perspective.

The debate surrounding this advisory opinion opens spaces for the participation of more states, experts, civil society organizations, and affected people in the collective discussion that will help generate timely, just, and sustainable solutions that guarantee the rights of individuals, peoples, and nations.