After years of campaigning Vanuatu, on the front line in the face of the devastation of global warming, the UN General Assembly adopted Wednesday, March 29, to applause, a resolution described as "historic" by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. It aims to have international justice clarify the "obligations" of States in the fight against climate change.

With the adoption by consensus of this resolution co-sponsored by more than 130 States, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will have to answer the question of "States' obligations" in protecting the climate system, "for present and future generations". "An unprecedented challenge of civilizational scope," insists the text.

"Together, you are making history," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said from the podium, saying that even if not binding, the future opinion of the United Nations judicial body could help world leaders "take the bolder and stronger climate action that the world so desperately needs".

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It is "a clear and strong message not only throughout the world but also far into the future, that on this day, the peoples of the United Nations (...) have decided to put aside their differences and work together to tackle the main challenge of our time, climate change," said Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, whose archipelago has just been ravaged by two powerful cyclones in a few days.

A "guide" for national courts hearing claims against States

The Vanuatu government launched this "historic initiative" in 2021, after a campaign initiated by students at a Fiji university two years earlier.

A week ago, UN climate experts (IPCC) again warned that warming should reach the threshold of +2030.2035°C in 1-5 compared to the pre-industrial era, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement. A stark reminder of the urgency to act radically during this decade to ensure a "livable future" for humanity.

"To describe (the resolution) as the most important global breakthrough since the Paris agreement (also non-binding) seems accurate," Shaina Sadai of the Union for Concerned Scientists think tank told AFP. The expert described the resolution as an "incredibly important step", including as a "guide" for national courts around the world that are increasingly seized of claims against States.

Coincidentally, this resolution is adopted at a time when the European Court of Human Rights is holding a hearing on a first climate appeal against States, in this case France and Switzerland.

Even if the opinions of the ICJ, the judicial body of the UN, are not binding, they carry significant legal and moral weight, often taken into account by national courts.

An opinion in about two years

Vanuatu and its supporters therefore hope that the future opinion, expected in about two years' time, will encourage governments to accelerate their action, either on their own or through legal action against states. However, this enthusiasm is not unanimous.

"I don't see what the Court could say useful. On the other hand, I see scenarios where this request would be counterproductive," Benoît Mayer, a specialist in international law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP. He even evokes a risk of "catastrophic scenario", with an opinion of the ICJ "clear and precise but contrary to what the supporters of the request wanted".

With AFP and Reuters

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