Friday March 4, 2022
Basel Peace office is supporting World’s Youth for Climate Justice, one of the two winners of the PACEY Award 2021, and Normandy Chair for Peace in their initiative to achieve an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the issue of climate protection and the rights of future generations.
This event is the third in a series of four global webinars being held over 2021/2022 to consider a range of issues concerning the value of such a case, what to ask the court, how to win the case and how the outcome could be implemented.
The first webinar held in June 2021 focused on the importance of climate litigation and assessed lessons from other Advisory Opinions, in particular the historical 1996 ICJ opinion on nuclear weapons. You can watch the recorded sessions on facebook. Session 1. Session 2. The second webinar in August 2021 focused on the sources of law to draw upon to build the case, including international agreements, customary international law, general principles of law and judicial decisions in domestic courts.
This third webinar The World Court and Climate Change: Roads and Bridges, will focus on building the global campaign to ensure that political obstacles to reaching the court can be overcome, and to help win the case once it is in the court.
Session 1: Timed for Europe/Africa/Asia/Pacific
Friday March 4 from 8am - 9:30am Central Europe Time.
Event in English. Click here to register. Event flyer.
Chair: Atina Schutz (Marshall Islands). Awareness Chair, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change
Welcome: Emilie Gaillard (France). General Co-ordinator, Normandy Chair for Peace. Associate Professor in Private Law (Sciences Po Rennes).
Speakers:
- Dr Kate Dewes (New Zealand). Disarmament and Security Centre. Co-founder, World Court Project on Nuclear Weapons and International Law. Member, UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters 2008-2013.
- Hon Saber Chowdhury (Bangladesh). Honorary President, Inter-Parliamentary Union. Member, High Level Panel on Common Security. Co-President, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament.
- Disha Ravi (India). Co-founder, Fridays for Future India.
Session 2: Timed for Americas/Europe/Africa/Middle East
Friday March 4 from 4pm - 5:30 pm Central Europe Time / 10am - 11:30am Eastern Time (USA).
There will be simulataneous translation in English/French/Spanish.
Click here to register. Event flyer.
Chair: Alyn Ware (New Zealand/Czech Republic). Director, Basel Peace Office. Member, World Future Council
Welcome: Prof Emilie Gaillard (France). General Co-ordinator, Normandy Chair for Peace. Associate Professor in Private Law (Sciences Po Rennes).
Speakers:
- Maria Espinosa (Ecuador). President of the 73rd UN General Assembly (2018-2019). Member World Future Council. Former Ecuador Ambassador to the UN, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense and Minister of Heritage.
- Khulekani Sizwe Magwaza (South Africa). Theology Student. Secretary-General of the South African Youth Climate Change Coalition. Member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA).
- Adrián Martínez Blanco (Costa Rica). Director of La Ruta del Clima.
- Miguel van der Velden (Aruba, Caribbean Islands). Journalist and sustainability expert. Member of the Core-Team of World's Youth for Climate Justice.
Recommended background reading: Human rights in the face of the climate crisis: a youth-led initiative to bring climate justice to the International Court of Justice, July 2021, World’s Youth for Climate Justice