MEPs and parliamentarians from the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries that are members of the Organisation of ACP States (OACPS) and partners of the EU under the Cotonou Agreement are jointly advocating for climate justice and a human rights-based approach to climate action at COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh (6-18 November) and beyond.
This advocacy is at the heart of an urgent resolution on ‘Global challenges of climate change cooperation for adaptation and mitigation in the wake of COP27’, adopted on Wednesday 2 November in Maputo (Mozambique) by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) (see EUROPE 13053/19).
“This is an issue of critical importance to all our countries, especially the small island developing states. Climate justice cannot be an empty concept. It must be a platform for rapid action to reduce and mitigate the impacts of global warming in an equitable way”, according to the JPA’s European co-president Carlos Zorrinho (S&D, Portuguese).
In addition to taking a position in view of COP27 by reaffirming its “commitment to build on joint efforts for ambitious climate action”, which includes “sustainable climate finance, mitigation and adaptation or loss and damage”, the JPA stresses the importance of adopting a human rights-based approach to climate action, including the integration of the human rights dimension into nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
Seek an opinion from the International Court of Justice. In particular, the JPA calls on the EU and its Member States and the OACPS countries to adopt the resolution of the 77th UN General Assembly to obtain an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States, under international law, to protect the rights of people and individuals of the present and future generations against the adverse effects of climate change.
Vanuatu is leading the initiative at the UN General Assembly and is supported by two European countries: Portugal and Germany.
“The question is how the climate crisis and a country’s failure to act to mitigate it could constitute, at international level, a breach of the legal framework on the protection of human rights and could constitute a legal basis for attacking that country”, JPA Vice-President Maria Arena (S&D, Belgian) told EUROPE.
She added: “The aim is that, by December, as many European and ACP countries as possible support the initiative in order to obtain a majority at the UN General Assembly in December for the question to be asked. As the ACP-EU Joint Assembly is an interparliamentary assembly, the JPA is used as a mouthpiece. We are initiating a political process from the JPA”.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/3vq (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)