NEW YORK: The General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a resolution to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ responsibilities in addressing climate change.
The resolution, which was put forward by the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu and supported by a group of 17 countries, focuses on the impacts of climate change on small island developing states and climate justice.
Although ICJ’s advisory opinions are not legally binding, they carry legal and moral weight. Pakistan, one of the top 10 disaster-vulnerable countries on the Global Climate Risk Index, has welcomed this move.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that an advisory opinion from ICJ could assist in taking bolder and stronger climate action. He also pointed out the latest climate science that confirms human responsibility for virtually all global heating over the past 200 years and stresses the urgency of climate action and climate justice.
The prime minister of Vanuatu, Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau, said an ICJ advisory opinion could provide clarity that would benefit global efforts to address the climate crisis and further boost cooperation.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk welcomed the “landmark resolution” and said an advisory opinion “could be an important catalyst for the urgent, ambitious, and equitable climate action needed to stop global heating and limit and remediate climate-induced human rights harms.”
