An advisory opinion on human rights and climate change in the African regional human rights system

Abstract

While African countries are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite contributing the least to global emissions, it is a continent with a rich and progressive regional human rights system. The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights was ground-breaking both in its recognition of environmental human rights and in its embracing of the collective rights of peoples. The African Charter, more than any other regional human rights instrument, is built on principles of solidarity, compassion and co-operation across borders and a recognition that a satisfactory environment is a human right. These are all features that should make the African human rights system uniquely responsive to climate change and, for this reason, should make the African Court of Human Rights uniquely positioned to hand down an advisory opinion on the obligations of African states in response to climate change. There is, however, a significant obstacle to the Court handing down such an opinion: it has taken an unusually restrictive approach in its interpretation of the standing provisions, all but blocking access to the Court for non-state parties. In this chapter we argue that the context of climate change merits consideration of the potential and impact of an advisory opinion and this might be a necessary and important opportunity for the Court to reconsider its jurisprudence on standing. This, we argue, could have significant beneficial impacts both for the practice of the Court as an accessible and inclusive institution, and on regional responses to climate change.

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ORCID for Dina Lupin: orcid.org/0000-0002-6531-8066

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