The Kaleidoscope of Climate Change and Human Rights: The Promise of International Litigation for Women, Indigenous Peoples, and Children

Abstract

Climate change has been identified as a global emergency, a major international development issue, and a priority concern by many international and national entities. Women, Indigenous peoples, and children are some of the individuals and groups most affected by the adverse impacts of climate change. The author contends in this article that international case litigation can be a key strategy to set critical legal standards to address human rights violations suffered by women, Indigenous peoples, and children in the area of climate change. This article also proposes international litigation as a powerful catalyst to give agency, autonomy, and participation to these groups, especially in the finding of solutions and strategies to combat climate change. The author discusses cases currently before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child alleging human rights violations under existing treaties connected to state failures in adopting measures to adequately adapt and mitigate to climate change concerns. The author explores whether the litigation of cases before global and regional human rights protection systems can serve to secure the goal of climate justice and be useful in addressing climate change issues faced by women, Indigenous peoples, and children. The article discusses important opportunities in cases to develop key concepts, legal standards, and useful guidance for states on how to best mitigate, adapt, and ensure access to justice for climate change effects. The article delves into four areas in which case litigation before global and regional human rights bodies can be helpful in defining the contours of state obligations to advance the human rights of women, Indigenous peoples, and children in the area of climate justice. These areas include due diligence, extraterritoriality, and non-state actors; a gender perspective and intersectional discrimination; consultation, consent, and effective participation; and access to information and human rights defense. This article also reviews how existing global and regional human rights treaties, as well as new agreements – such as the Escazú Agreement in Latin America and the Caribbean – can serve as important references in human rights litigation efforts related to climate change. This article seeks to contribute to current scholarship exploring the synergies between climate change concerns, international human rights law, the goal of climate justice, and the human rights of women, Indigenous peoples, and children in these areas.