Advisory Opinions on Climate Change: An Overview of a Quartet of Simultaneous Requests
Legal responses to climate change are facing an unprecedented moment. In a span of six months, a quartet of requests for advisory opinions from international and regional courts and tribunals were announced. In December 2022, the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS) submitted a request for an advisory opinion from the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). The request addresses the obligations of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment and to preserve and protect it in relation to climate change impacts. In January 2023, Chile and Colombia submitted a request for an advisory opinion on the scope of state obligations regarding climate change, in particular as it relates to shared responsibilities between countries at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). In March 2023, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution by consensus posing a set of questions on states’ responsibilities for climate change to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Finally, a pan-continental initiative of African civil society and community-based organisations are about to request an advisory opinion from the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights on the human rights obligations of African states in relation to the impacts of climate change.
This webinar will discuss the “quartet of initiatives” to request advisory opinions on climate change from these judicial bodies in three panels. Panel 1 discusses how we got there through a conversation with the campaigners and government representatives responsible for the mobilization to construct the requests. Panel 2 will invite a comparative analysis from legal experts on the legal questions posed to the judicial bodies. Panel 3 will provide some practical answers into the different legal processes and timelines moving forward.
Full program is listed below:
8.30 am: Welcome and Opening Statement: Maria Antonia Tigre, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
8.45-9.45 am: Panel 1: How Did We Get Here? A Conversation with the Campaigners and Government Representatives
Moderator: Lea Main-Klingst
Speakers: Vishal Prasad, PISFCC; Payam Akhavan; Lúcia Solano, UN Mission of Colombia
9.45-10.45 am: Panel 2: Where Are We Now? The Legal Questions Posed to the Judicial Bodies
Moderator: Dina Lupin
Speakers: Julian Aguon and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, Blue Ocean Law; Irini Papanicolopulu (Milano Bicocca); Claudia de Windt
10.45-11.00 am: BREAK
11.00-12.00 pm: Panel 3: Where Are We Going? Next Steps and the Legal Processes Moving Forward
Moderator: Armando Rocha
Speakers: Julia Sherman, Three Crowns LLP; Rozemarijn Roland Holst, Durham University; Rodrigo Jose da Costa Sales, Open Society Foundation; Yusra Suedi, LSE
