Vanuatu opens the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion proceedings on climate change and human rights
The International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) has today commenced hearings in the Advisory Opinion proceedings on the obligations of states in respect of climate change. The Republic of Vanuatu has led the effort to bring this issue before the world’s highest court, asking the ICJ to clarify the obligations of States in respect of climate change, including towards small island developing States which are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. A record number of states and international organisations will be appearing in the proceedings.
Jennifer Robinson acts for the Republic of Vanuatu. She is instructed by Julian Aguon and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh of Blue Ocean Law, an international firm in Guam. The counsel team also includes Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Emeritus Professor at Panthéon-Assas University, Lavanya Rajamani, Professor of International Environmental Law at Oxford University and Jorge Viñuales, Harold Samuel Professor of Law and Environmental Policy at Cambridge University.
In 2021, Vanuatu announced that the government would be seeking an advisory opinion from the Court. After Vanuatu built a large coalition of states to support the initiative, the proceedings were referred to the ICJ by the UN General Assembly Resolution 77/276 on 29 March 2023. This marked the first time, in the history of the UN, that a resolution requesting the ICJ render an advisory opinion was adopted by consensus.
An unprecedented number of states are participating in the proceedings: 91 written statements were filed (the highest number ever filed with the Court), 62 written comments were filed, and 100 states and international organisations will be presenting oral submissions before the Court.
Vanuatu is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world and has been described as the country which has the highest level of risk from climate change-induced natural disasters. Vanuatu delivered the opening statement in these proceedings together with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), an intergovernmental organisation whose membership includes Vanuatu.
As Climate Envoy for the Republic of Vanuatu, Ralph Regenvanu, told the Court in his opening address:
The outcome of these proceedings will reverberate across generations, determining the fate of nations like mine and the future of our planet.
Vanuatu is a nation of islands and island peoples. Our peoples have built vibrant cultures and traditions over millennia that are intimately intertwined with our ancestral lands and seas. Yet today, we find ourselves on the frontlines of a crisis we did not create—a crisis that threatens our very existence and that of so many other peoples who have come in unprecedented numbers to be heard by this Court.
The importance of the questions before this Court cannot be overstated. At issue in this case is the legality under the entire corpus of international law of a certain conduct, displayed by specific States over time, which has interfered with the climate system to a point that has already caused significant harm to Vanuatu and that threatens the survival of my people and of humanity as a whole.
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For many peoples, including in Vanuatu, the prolonged and systemic failure of the COP process has cost them their well-being, cultures, even lives. There is an urgent need for a collective response to climate change grounded not in political convenience, but in international law.
The Court, as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, is uniquely positioned to provide authoritative guidance under the entire corpus of international law. We look to the Court for recognition that the conduct which has already caused immense harm to my people and so many others is unlawful, that it must cease, and that its consequences must be repaired.
In closing, I choose my words carefully when I say that this may well be the most consequential case in the history of humanity. Let us not allow future generations to look back and wonder why the cause of their doom was condoned.
Ms Robinson is also advising the Marshall Islands in relation to its oral submissions in these proceedings. The Marshall Islands will also be appearing before the Court this week.
