Climate: young Italians against 33 countries at the Strasbourg Court

Two Italian girls aged 18 and 20, one from Veneto and the other from Basilicata, appealed to the European Court of Human Rights against 33 member states of the Council of Europe, accusing them of violating their right to life, health, and to private and family life because they do not respect the commitments undertaken with the signing of the 2015 Paris agreement, COP21.

This was announced by the two lawyers representing them, Angela Maria Bitonti, of the Matera Bar, and Sonia Sommacal, who practices in Belluno.

    "Each of the girls filed an appeal, and the documentation was sent today to the Strasbourg Court," Bitonti told ANSA.

    "The girls - whose names were not disclosed - are very worried about the effects of climate change", continues the lawyer, recalling that the Belluno area and the center of Matera have been hit by floods in the last two years. , and that the city of stones is subject to strong heat waves.

    The young women "believe that Italy is particularly fragile and more exposed than other countries to climate change", Bitonti observes.

"I believe this action may set a precedent for similar ones in the future," he concludes.

The appeal of the Italian girls resembles the one that the Strasbourg Court received from some Portuguese young people last year, and which the judges decided to deal with as a matter of priority.