The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said Monday, November 30, to continue the priority examination of the request of six young Portuguese who attack 33 European states for their inaction against global warming, a first for this international court.
Read also: Alaska: with the sentries of the Arctic, at the forefront of global warming
"
The case relates to greenhouse gas emissions from 33 States
" including France, explains the court in a letter to the parties.
The incriminated States, she continues, "would
participate in global warming
" which manifests itself "
among other things, by heat peaks which would impact the living conditions and health of the applicants
".
The ECHR is seized by six young Portuguese, aged 8 to 21 years.
Supported by the British NGO Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), they argue that the repeated forest fires that their country has known for several years are the direct result of global warming and have an impact on their health and condition. "
Anxiety
".
The applicants accuse the incriminated states of not respecting the commitments made in 2015 at the end of COP21, with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
This case is unusual, the judicial arm of the Council of Europe, which sits in Strasbourg, is generally seized of requests targeting only one State.
On Monday, the ECHR sent a series of questions to the parties, who now have several weeks to respond.
“
Given that the vast majority of cases filed in the Strasbourg court fail to reach this stage, this decision marks a major step towards a potential capital judgment on climate change,
” GLAN said in a statement.
This examination by the ECHR on this theme takes place "
in an unprecedented way
", underlined Nicolas Hervieu, specialist in European law.
The questions put to the parties and the court's decision to examine this request "as a matter of
priority
" do not, however, bode well for the final success of the process.
“
Its admissibility will be hotly debated,
” anticipates Hervieu.
