The Climate Law Seminar Series is organized by the Climate Law Research Group, University of Oslo, Department of Public and International Law. The objective of the series is to provide a regular, open forum for students, staff, stakeholders and the interested public for the exchange and discussion of contemporary issues in the field of climate law.
Topic:
The UN Human Rights Committee in its decision in Daniel Billy et al. versus Australia (“Torres Strait Islanders case”), issued on 23 September 2022, finds that by failing to implement timely and adequate adaptation measures, Australia is violating CCPR rights of several Australian citizens who are residents of the Torres Strait Islands and belong to an indigenous minority group. During the seminar, we invite reflections on this case from different perspectives. Further, we also encourage to discuss it in context of expectations towards the climate cases pending at the European Court of Human Rights, especially in light of states positive environmental human rights obligations.
The seminar is organized in collaboration with the Norwegian Center for Human Rights, the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and Pluricourts.
Agenda:
- Introduction by the chairs of the seminar: Prof. Christina Voigt (University of Oslo - UiO) and Prof. Gentian Zyberi (UiO/SMR and UNHRC member)
- Perspectives from the inside of the UNHRC: Prof. Gentian Zyberi
- Perspectives from the claimants: Sophie Marjanac, lead lawyer on the case, Client Earth (online)
- Does the decision mark the start of a new era for Human Rights?: Comments from Prof. Mads Andenæs (UiO) and Jenny Sandvig (Norwegian National Human Rights Institution)
- Causality and human rights violations: PhD cand. Meike Krakau (LMU München/Pluricourts)
- Some (Constructive) Criticism: Prof. Christina Voigt
- Q&A (45 min.)