Arnold Kiel Loughman
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Statements at the International Court of Justice highlighted a compelling legal case, Vanuatu’s attorney general said Friday at the conclusion of the two-week oral hearings that examined the states' climate change-related obligations.
“We have argued, one statement after the other, that international environmental laws and fundamental human rights are applicable international legal obligations that must not be excluded from states' responsibilities in the context of climate change,” Arnold Kiel Loughman said.
During the hearings, 96 States and 11 international organizations presented oral statements for the ICJ’s considerations.
The Vanuatu-led case sought an advisory opinion to clarify the legal obligations of states to combat climate change and protect vulnerable communities whose fundamental human rights—prominently including the right to self-determination—are threatened.
“All of us look forward to the ICJ’s coming advisory opinion and its potential to inspire global action. In Vanuatu, we understand that a rising tide may lift all boats, as the Global North saying goes," Loughman said. "But in Vanuatu, we need our boats lifted fast, before the sea-level rise permanently swamps our coasts.”
He noted that Vanuatu has contributed only 0.0016 percent of global historic greenhouse gas emissions yet suffers disproportionately from climate impacts.
“Historical polluters are responsible for the harm that our small island State and many other nations have been left to deal with as a result of climate change impacts, while uncurbed greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel subsidies and ongoing exploration and extraction from these same historical polluters continue to fuel the climate crisis,” Loughman said.
“This landmark case has shown a shared determination from representatives across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean Pacific Island States and even a few European States to uphold and apply the rule of international law in the context of climate change,” he said.
Loughman said vulnerable countries have asked the court to step in and rule for justice.
“We cannot wait another couple of decades in the hope that climate negotiations
will deliver the climate action needed to stop the ongoing catastrophic consequences of climate change, let alone provide remedies for the harm we have already experienced,” he said.
Tho who testified pointed out that “historical polluters” attempted to find refuge under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, which limit state responsibility to procedural obligations that avoid any real accountability.
“One of the common threads of statements over the past two weeks has been the importance of the right of self-determination, and how climate change has impaired efforts to assert that right,” Loughman said.
“In this light, the prominence of the case has furthered our efforts to decolonize the global economy where, currently, the impacts of industrial activities in high-emission countries still disproportionately impact the Global South," he added.
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