One Ocean Hub’s Post

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights delivered decisions on three #ClimateCases brought by 🇨🇭 Klimaseniorinnen, 🇵🇹 Youth for Climate Justice, and 🇫🇷 MEP Damien Careme. They have the potential to influence all environmental and climate matters, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. In the historic Klimaseniorinnen case, the Court found that Switzerland's climate inaction was in violation of the European Convention’s right to a fair trial and right to private and family life, home and correspondence. The Court has acknowledged that the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll, while not autonomously recognised in the Convention, is part of the international legal context in which the Court assesses issues before it. The Court also acknowledged that the Parties to the Convention recognise a close link between the protection of the environment and #HumanRights. The Court's approach could be reinforced and clarified by recognising a standalone right to a healthy environment. A standalone recognition of the right would complement and reinforce existing state obligations to respect, protect and fulfil it. The response to the triple planetary crisis requires a unified approach so that: 👉 States walk the talk and fully protect people and the environment; 👉 Communities can access justice. Recognising the right to a healthy environment at the Conseil de l'Europe is a key step to achieve that! Ready to learn more? Read about the case for the right at the Council of Europe in our letter, already endorsed by 400+ civil society organisations ⬇ https://lnkd.in/eK4TCE9N

We are calling on civil society organizations, movements and activists from all over Europe 📣 Do you believe in a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment? And do you think Europe’s human rights system should finally move to make it a reality for all? The time for change is now and your organization can play a crucial part: join us in demanding from the Council of Europe an additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights! ✊ This is the fastest and most effective way to ensure that Europe takes a stance on collective and urgent environmental action for all its citizens. Sign up our endorsement letter to Permanent Representations to the Conseil de l'Europe 👉 https://lnkd.in/eSQiKhcz #healthyenvironment #healthyenvironmentforall #climate #environment #humanrights

The European human rights framework does not recognize a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as an autonomous right, despite a historic UN resolution and many Member States of the Council of Europe already doing that. Europe can no longer lag behind in the fight for environmental protection. Join your voice to ours, ask your organization to support the call on the Member States of the Council of Europe to protect the right to a healthy environment for all through an additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights [link int the first comment]. It's high time to send a strong signal to national and international communities, affirming Europe’s commitment to tackling the environmental crisis and providing its citizens with an enforceable right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. #HealthyEnvironmentForAll #TheTimeIsNow

🇱🇺 Luxembourg begins its term as President of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, at a pivotal moment for human rights and environmental protection. This moment calls for decisive action to protect the right to a healthy environment through an Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. An Additional Protocol would establish a clear, cohesive protection of the right, avoiding fragmented approaches while leveraging existing mechanisms like the European Court of Human Rights. Luxembourg’s leadership positions it ideally to drive this agenda forward at the Council of Europe. We urge Luxembourg to prioritize adopting this protocol, championing the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll, and strengthening the Council’s role in protecting our planet for generations to come.

🇪🇺 Do you know that the upcoming European elections ( 6 - 9 June) are a make or break moment for the #EuropeanGreenDeal ? And: you wonder who to vote for/ who of the Members of the Parliament support a healthy planet and healthy people? 🌏 👀 Have a look at the scoreboard (see below): An analysis on: How have Members of the European Parliament European Parliament 🇪🇺 voted in the past on the #EuropeanGreenDeal - the EU's political answer to the planetary crisis (climate, biodiversity and pollution)? 😍 An amazing work by a coalition of European environmental and climate NGOs: deep analysis of almost 40 political files on climate, nature and pollution reveals that 🌳 only a minority of parliamentarians actually voted as protectors of the people and the planet: The Greens and the Left. 🐌 Other political groups acted as procrastinators and delayers or even as 🛑 "prehistoric thinkers" (amongst them: the European People's Party EPP who obstructed ALL files on #nature). The scoreboard is a great tool which ECOLISE will use in its campaign targeting the European elections around the 📕 Time for Collective Action Manifesto https://lnkd.in/engZyDwF A big thank you for this work to Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, European Environmental Bureau, Transport & Environment (T&E) #VoteFutureEU

Important analysis by 5 well-respected environment NGO's active in EU policy on how the main political groups in the outgoing European Parliament and their national member parties voted on green initiatives. The EP's currently largest political group, the European People's Party (Christian-democrats) in their 2019 election manifesto wrote 'we fight climate change', however in their actual voting on climate-relevant files only scored 25 out of 100 points. No big surprises here, but still important evidence ahead of the upcoming elections to illustrate which parties can be trusted on their environmental campaign promises. And which ones simply perform a puppet show.

👀 Who are 🛡️Protectors, 🐌Procrastinators and 🦖Prehistoric Thinkers at European Parliament? 😱 Our new in-depth European Parliament Scoreboard reveals that only a minority of 2019-2024 MEPs acted as Protectors of the Green Deal. Instead, the majority were either Procrastinators or Prehistoric thinkers, delaying real climate action with patchy and inconsistent voting records, or worse, completely failing to rise to the challenge of the crises Europe is facing. ⏰ This is a wake-up call for Europeans who want to see a climate-neutral, nature-positive and socially just Europe in the future. 👉 Check out our new interactive tool: https://lnkd.in/dg_47pRk #votefutureEU BirdLife Europe and Central Asia European Environmental Bureau Transport & Environment (T&E) WWF European Policy Office

🔎 Five large NGO networks representing civil society organisations from across the EU today published their in-depth analysis of the voting behaviour on key climate and environmental legislation of Members of the European Parliament over the past 5 years. 🦖 🐌 🛡 Despite vast and continued support from the large majority of EU citizens, political groups and national parties perform very differently in contributing to EU action against the climate crisis. 🗳 It is clear that EVERY VOTE MATTERS in the upcoming #EuropeanElections (6-9 June)! #UseYourVote #votefutureEU Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe BirdLife Europe and Central Asia Transport & Environment (T&E) WWF European Policy Office

⚖️ In Verein Klima Seniorinnen Schweiz v Switzerland, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights decided that Switzerland must take steps to protect its citizens from the adverse impacts of climate change so they can enjoy their fundamental human rights.   Sue Willman reviews the Council of Europe's slow progress to implement the right to a healthy environment. She argues that whilst the KlimaSeniorinnen case advances the campaign for the human right to a healthy environment in the Council of Europe, legislation is still needed.   👉 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eeJHgKfa #ClimateChange #Righttohealthyenvironment #EU #CenterforEuropeanStudies #ChristUniversityLavasa

🌎Today we recognize and celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. As we honor Indigenous communities' intrinsic protection of the environment and defense of our earth, we want to highlight some recent projects from our Environment Program's ongoing work with Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International. ▶️We helped build Escazú Agreement Toolkits for Women Land Defenders and Frontline Communities for 5 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. WECAN launched the toolkits on Earth Day this year, which provide guidance on the rights of women land defenders and practical resources on how to help protect them. Additional toolkits to come - stay tuned! ▶️ Last year, with partner law firms, we evaluated whether domestic laws in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru met international legal standards on Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). WECAN used this research in its advocacy work with environmental human rights defenders across the Americas. The FPIC analyses and toolkits can be accessed on WECAN's website: https://lnkd.in/gNdB4Vth We are committed to advocating for the protection of Indigenous peoples' environmental rights worldwide.