Call for Abstracts
We warmly invite you to submit an abstract for a Workshop on “Global climate change litigation and the rise of international adjudication”. The workshop is hosted by the Centre for International Law and Globalisation, Southampton Law School, University of Southampton, in collaboration with the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment and will take place on 30 June in Southampton (Highfield Campus), United Kingdom. Please send your abstract of no more than 300 words to [email protected] by 2 May 2023.
Background:
In the past few years, activists and lawyers have increasingly turned to national courts in an effort to secure greater action by states to address the causes and impacts of climate change (the Sabin Centre’s Climate Litigation Database contains information on over 1000 climate cases brought in recent years).
Very recently, there has been an important development in the area of climate litigation: for the first time, a number of cases are being brought to international and regional courts. These include several requests for advisory opinions just submitted or in the process of being drafted:
- a request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS);
- an application by Chile and Colombia to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to clarify the involvement of Latin American states in climate emergency matters;
- the tabling of a UN resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on human rights and climate change, which had been requested and adopted by the UNGA following an initiative by Vanuatu; and
- a pan-continental initiative of African civil society and community-based organisations 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.
Workshop objectives and design:
Our workshop will bring together scholars, lawyers and activists working on these important initiatives, to create a platform for an analysis of the issues concerning the role of international courts and tribunals in climate change and to create opportunities for greater sharing and collaboration.
- First, this will be an opportunity to bring together the lawyers and researchers who have been directly involved in instituting each of these applications, to share experience, discuss barriers, and consider strategy in international climate litigation;
- Second, scholars and practitioners will have the opportunity to engage about the value and shortcomings of different international and regional courts as venues to secure greater state mitigation and adaptation measures;
- Third, academics will share ideas about supporting novel strategies in the development of international climate change law and sustainability projects and investigating the potential but also the risks associated with the use of requests for advisory opinions from different regional and international courts.
- Last, the workshop will constitute an opportunity for the development of a publication or publications on the subject matter.
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