The ‘Last Judgment’: Early reflections on upcoming climate litigation in Italy
1. Introduction Human rights arguments have increasingly become a suitable ground for litigation on climate change. Among many others, the Urgenda case, adjudicated at district level in 2015 and upheld by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in December 2019, has rapidly become the landmark in this context.[1] A large set of complaints has been...
When climate change and human rights meet: A brief comment on the UN Human Rights Committee’s Teitiota decision
‘There are realities where extreme events surpass the ability to adapt and displacement and migration are the only avenues for survival.’ Mary Robinson 1. Introduction Global warming has become a significant threat to human life. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the evidence of transformations in the climate system is now...
Baptism of fire?’ The first climate case before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
1. Introduction On 23 September 2020, sixteen children from twelve countries around the world presented the first climate-related petition[1] to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee). In the petition, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist and the 15 other child petitioners, aged between 8 and 17,[2] allege that...
