Youth4climatejustice
Court Rules Climate Inaction is a Human Rights Violation
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgments in landmark climate cases, including GLAN’s Youth4ClimateJustice case (Duarte Agostinho and Others v. 32 Member States).
The ECtHR held that our case was inadmissible but issued a landmark ruling in a case brought by a group of Senior Swiss Women against Switzerland, which was linked to ours. Its ruling is unequivocal that government failure to rapidly cut emissions is a violation of human rights. This sets a historic precedent that applies to all European countries requiring them to urgently revise their targets so they are aligned to 1.5 degrees. This is a massive win for all generations!
Learn more about this pioneering legal case here.
Get case updates
Case Background
European governments have a legal duty to act urgently on the climate crisis
After witnessing devastating forest fires and experiencing ever-worsening heatwaves, six Portuguese young people decided to act. On 3rd September 2020, they launched an unprecedented case against over 30 European countries in the European Court of Human Rights.
Finally, following the hottest summer on record in Europe, their case was heard on 27th September 2023. The historic hearing took place before 22 judges with 86 government lawyers in attendance; unprecedented in scale, the case received worldwide attention, with over 6000 mentions in the press in 71 countries, and counting.
The case of the ‘youth-Applicants’ is simple: time is rapidly running out to safeguard their futures. European governments have a legal duty to take far more radical and urgent action to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
CLIMATE NEWS
