Merkel and Putin before the Court of Human Rights - unusual lawsuit gets "priority"

Six young Portuguese against 33 countries: In the fight against climate change, the Court of Human Rights has given the go-ahead for a lawsuit.

Not only Merkel must now take a stand.

• The

  young Portuguese

  are all under 22 years of age and filed a complaint with the

  European Court of Human Rights

  in September

  .

• You want to get numerous countries

  to step up

  their efforts to

  combat climate change

  .

• It is unusual that the

  lawsuit

  addresses several countries at the same time.

Strasbourg - Young climate activists are putting the heads of state of several countries under really pressure: The

gave the green light on Monday for the negotiation of a 

.

The court will give priority to the complaint of six young Portuguese between the ages of eight and 21, the Strasbourg judges said on Monday.

The affected countries, including the government of Angela Merkel *, must now express their views on the accusation that they are not doing enough against

by February

.

The lawsuit concerns

from 33 countries, including Germany, France, Russia and Turkey, the court said.

The complainants argue that the

that have caused severe damage in Portugal in recent years are partly due to the inadequate fulfillment of the Paris climate targets in Europe.

People died, animals died, houses burned down.

Decision of the Court of Human Rights: 33 states have to comment on climate plans

Some complainants also argue that government inaction to combat climate change has also led to

favored.

This creates an irrigation problem for farmers in Portugal, the lawsuit said.

The goal: The ECHR is supposed to encourage climate offenders to set their national goals higher and to reduce the emissions caused by them and their international corporations worldwide.

This is what young complainants want to

fight

with full

.

They are supported by the British non-governmental organization

, which welcomed the green light from the Strasbourg judges on Monday as a “tremendous development”.

"Only a very small part of all the lawsuits filed with the court get that far," said the organization.

When it comes to the fight against climate change, scientists say: "European governments are still not doing enough," it said.

NEWS: The European Court of Human Rights just announced it is fast-tracking a climate case brought by 6 Portuguese youth facing spiraling heat extremes.

They filed their case with GLAN's support against 33 European States.

Now all 33 states are required to respond.

A thread .. pic.twitter.com/qVaOAdkWKR

- Global Legal Action Network (@GLAN_LAW) November 30, 2020

Fighting climate change: "Great fear of having to live on a sick planet"

The

is also great.

"It gives me a lot of hope to know that the judges in the European Court of Human Rights recognize the urgency of our case," said 12-year-old André Oliveira from Lisbon, who is participating with sister Sofia (15).

When the lawsuit was filed in early September, little Mariana Agostinho from Leiria

said

in an interview with the

: "I am

very

afraid of having to live on a sick planet."

The green light for the lawsuit is unusual, not least because the complainants are

.

Normally, cases before the ECtHR are only directed against one country.