Climate change and duty of care
The children have been busy. On matters of environmental justice, Australia has witnessed much legal activity from youthful citizens who, despite in some cases not being old enough to vote, have stirred politics. In 2021, five
lodged complaints with the United Nations over the failure of the Australian government to cut, in a meaningful way, greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The complaint to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, and Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, could only have been impressed. Three central questions were posed by the complainants: whether such inaction was ‘consistent with the human rights obligations’; whether such conduct was ‘compatible’ with the human rights of young Australians ‘and whether the State will establish a permanent forum to include young people from impacted communities.’
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