Climate Justice: UN rules Australia violated Islander Rights : Daily Current Affairs

Date: 15/10/2022

Relevance:GS-3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Phrases: United Nations Human Rights Committee, Torres Strait, mitigation and adaptation measures, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Rising sea levels, coastal erosion and flooding, the island communities.

Why in News?

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has found that the Australian government violated the rights of people living on four islands in the Torres Strait and has ordered it to pay for the harm caused.
The committee ruled last week that the country had failed to protect islanders from the effects of climate change, making their claim the first successful one of this kind.
The Torres Strait islands off the northern tip of Australia are already feeling the brunt of climate-change damage. Rising sea levels, coastal erosion and
flooding have had devastating impacts on the island communities.

What is UN Human Rights Committee?

The Human Rights Committee is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State parties.
All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how civil and political rights are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Covenant and then whenever the Committee requests.
In addition,
- Article 41 of the Covenant provides for the Committee to consider inter-state complaints.
- The Optional Protocol to the Covenant gives the Committee competence to examine individual complaints regarding alleged violations of the Covenant by States parties to the Protocol.
- The Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant relates to the abolition of the death penalty by States who have accepted the Protocol.
The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as general comments, on thematic issues or its methods of work.
The Committee meets in Geneva and normally holds three sessions per year.

What is the issue all about?

The Torres Strait Islanders’ brought their complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the following grounds:
- Australian government had failed to take mitigation and adaptation measures to combat the effects of climate change.
- It failed to protect their human rights.
- Their land is under threat from rising sea levels.
- Their culture is also threatened because salt water is killing traditional food sources, such as coconuts, and storm surges have washed away culturally significant sites, including graveyards.

What did the UN Committee decide?

The committee ruled that :
- The Australian government did violate islanders’ rights in failing to implement adaptation measures to protect their homes, private lives and families.
- Their ability to maintain their traditional way of life, and to pass on their culture and traditions to future generations has not been protected.
- The Torres Strait Islanders were entitled to compensation for the harm that they have suffered.
- However, the committee rejected the claim that Australia had violated the islanders’ “right to life with dignity”.

Significance of the decision:

This is the first time that a claim related to climate harm that’s been presented to the UN Human Rights Committee has been successful.
Though the decision isn’t strictly legally binding, it’s still significant, because an international group of experts has ruled that an international treaty has been breached.
In the wake of the decision, the Australian government has committed to working with the islanders on climate change.

Other Cases of similar nature:

In 2019 Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and 15 other children appealed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child against 5 nations that were failing to meet their own commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The committee accepted that states could have obligations to people outside their territories — but ultimately it ruled the complaint inadmissible, holding that the petitioners had not exhausted legal avenues in the individual countries.
In another example, Vanuatu is seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which hears disputes between countries, to see whether nations can be held responsible under international law for the effects of climate change.

Do you know what Small Island Developing States(SIDS) are?

The 38 countries designated by the United Nations as Small Island Developing States, or SIDS, are amongst the most vulnerable countries in the world.
Situated in the Caribbean, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, they are bearing the brunt of an increasingly extreme and unpredictable global climate. As well as the environmental challenges, SIDS face a unique set of issues relating to their small size, remoteness, and exposure to external economic shocks.

Challenges faced by island nations:

Most island nations tend to confront similar constraints in their efforts to develop sustainably, such as a narrow resource base, small domestic markets and heavy dependence on a few external and sometimes remote markets.
They also generally face high costs for food, which often has to be imported, as well as energy, infrastructure, transportation and communication.
Those challenges are further complicated by the difficulties they face mobilizing development finance on affordable and appropriate terms.

Why should the world be worried?

The SIDS are the countries most affected by climate change but, given that they are generally producing little of the harmful greenhouse gases that are fueling climate change, they are also the countries least responsible for the problem.
So, all nations, especially industrialized ones which have generated most of these harmful gases, have a moral responsibility to act.
And while island nations are clearly on the frontline of the climate crisis, as global warming worsens, the effect is being felt around the world in developing and developed countries. So, it’s a global issue which concerns people everywhere.

Source: Author : Dyani Lewis/ Nature.com

DOI

Mains Question:

Q. The challenges faced by Islands nations due to climate change seek due attention from the global community. Elaborate. (150 words).