The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, issued a historic decision this Tuesday (9), condemning Switzerland for “climate inaction”.
According to the European court, the country violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to protect them from the “catastrophic effects of climate change”, according to an excerpt from the document.
The action was organized by activists from the Swiss association of “Elderly People for Climate Protection”, who argued that they are prevented from leaving their homes due to the risk of suffering health problems caused by heat waves in the country.
The authors of the action accuse Bern of not complying with measures to reduce emissions that cause “the planet to warm quickly enough to avoid climate disasters”, such as heat waves that mainly harm older people, according to them.
The decision, despite not including sanctions on the Swiss government, creates a precedent that other European countries can use to request sanctions in national courts regarding climate change. They are binding on the 46 members of the Council of Europe, which includes all 27 European Union (EU) countries.
The president of the ECtHR, Síofra O'Leary, highlighted that Switzerland violated the rights of these women, united in the association Verein KlimaSeniorinnen, because “critical gaps” were found in Swiss policies against climate change. The court condemned the country for violating article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with the “right to respect for private and family life”.
Also this Tuesday, the court rejected another high-profile case in the same vein involving six young Portuguese people against Portugal and 31 other European countries for insufficient policies to mitigate climate change. The court, based in France, rejected the request, justifying that the case did not meet the admissibility criteria.
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