Debrief of the Climate Justice Hearings at the International Court of Justice

Event

The World Youth for Climate Justice, Earthjustice, the Geneva Environment Network, the Geneva Human Rights Platform, and the Center for International Environmental Law are organizing a special event to unpack key arguments and draw lesson from the hearings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an Advisory Opinion on States’ obligations in respect of climate change.

Unpacking key Arguments and Drawing Lessons from a Human Rights Perspective, this event will:

• increase public awareness of the Advisory Opinion process and its relevance from a human rights perspective;
• center the understanding of the Advisory Opinion on human rights and States’ obligations beyond those contained in the Paris Agreement by offering the most immediate debriefing of the hearings with a focus on human rights;
• plant seeds for future follow-up: prepare the ground for an uptake of the Advisory Opinion among human rights institution.

A panel setting the stage with introductory remarks will be followed by a discussion among key experts with a focus on human rights dimensions of the hearings. The guided questions will focus on the relevance of human rights (focusing on specific dimensions) to addressing the two questions that the Court is set to address, and to the relevance of the upcoming Advisory Opinion for the work of human rights mechanisms and processes.

Moderation

• Felix Kirchmeier, Executive Director, Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP)
• Joie Chowdhury, Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

18:30 Opening Speakers:

• H.E. Sumbue Antas, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Vanuatu to the UNOG
• Luc Dockendorf, Deputy Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the UN in Geneva
• Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights (remote)
• Astrid Puentes, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment
• Marcelo Kohen, the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
• Vishal Prasad, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (remote)

19:00 Discussants:

• Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
• Surya Deva, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development
• Ana Maria Suarez-Franco, FIAN International
• Evelyne Schmid, University of Lausanne
• Ginevra Le Moli, European University Institute
• Nicole Ann Ponce, Steering Committee, World Youth for Climate Justice (remote)

19:40- 20:30 Open Discussion / Refreshments