No abstract

A month ago it was announced that eight residents of the Torres Strait Islands in Australia were bringing a human rights challenge against the Australian Government. These are a group of islands north of Queensland, home to a unique first nation people, who have inhabited the region for thousands of years, making it one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. They are threatened by climate change, which is already causing regular flooding of their land and homes and is predicted to get much worse. Rising sea temperatures are also affecting the health of the marine environment. The islands are within the jurisdiction of the Australian government. They complain that the government has not done enough to protect their interests, either by adopting sufficiently rigorous greenhouse gas targets, or funding adequate coastal defences. But they are not bringing their cases under Australian law. There appears to be no suitable domestic law framework of legal duties and remedies. Instead they are taking the case to the United National Human Rights Committee, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) dating from 1966. It is being brought under article 27 (right to culture), article 17 (protection of family and home life), and article 6 (right to life). You will not find anything in those articles about climate change, or even about the environment. But things have moved on since 1966. A "General Comment" on article 6 (replacing previous commentaries dating from the early 1980s) issued by the Committee in 2018 expanded on the meaning of the right to life: "Environmental degradation, climate change and unsustainable development constitute some of the most pressing and serious threats to the ability of present and future generations to enjoy the right to life. Obligations of States parities under international environmental law should thus inform the contents of article 6… Implementation of the obligation to respect and ensure the right to life, and in particular life with dignity, depends, inter alia, on measures taken by states to