Australia has the second-highest number of climate-change-related cases brought before its courts, second only to the United States, as it continues to hold government and private organisations responsible for the impact of their actions on the environment, and by extension, the people. Queensland's newly enacted Human Rights Act 2019 has widened the scope for such cases, allowing people to challenge action that potentially violates any of the 23 protected human rights, including the right to movement, education, and public health.
YOUTH VERDICT CHALLENGE
An organisation called Youth Verdict is challenging Clive Palmer’s proposed Galilee Coal Project that, if allowed, will become one of the biggest coal operations in Australia. This action is being challenged in Queensland’s Land Court with claims that it violates several human rights guaranteed to citizens under the new Human Rights Act 2019. The argument is that this coal mine will have a disastrous impact on the environment, greatly contributing to the increasing risk of bushfires, cyclones, heatwaves, droughts and floods – all consequences of drastic climate change. Youth Verdict argues that the project will violate the rights of the child, rights of Aboriginal and Torris Strait Islander peoples, and severely restrict their freedom from discrimation.
THE INTERSECTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Preventing climate change is undoubtedly a human rights issue, since it threatens not only to displace people fleeing adverse effects of climate change, but also restricts access to food, water, and sanitation. Various reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), confirm that the impact of climate change threatens the effective enjoyment of human rights by people across the globe. Against that backdrop, it is increasingly important for courts to review any activity that threatens to endanger the human rights guaranteed to the people they represent by contributing to climate change.
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT IN AUSTRALIA
The Youth Verdict case is the first case in Australia to take a human rights approach to challenging action that adversely affects the environment. The Queensland Human Rights Act 2019 stipulates that “every person has the right to life and has the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of life”. The 2019-20 Australian bushfires have only served as a reminder of the catastrophic implications of climate change, and the need to avert any action that contributes to it. The growing number of climate change cases being filed in jurisdictions around the world are a testament to society’s commitment to hold their respective governments and big corporations accountable for the consequences of their actions. While we have yet to see how this case will unfold, irrespective of the verdict, it is certainly a landmark case not only in climate change jurisprudence, but also in the fight for human rights.
Anusha is a second year undergraduate student studying sociology and history at the honors college at Arizona State University. She is passionate about human rights advocacy and law.