![]() They can’t do this somewhere else, so adaptation that involves relocation is not adequate. The committee looked at how environmental changes are affecting the islanders’ ability to practise their culture. The country was a sitting duck for this kind of case, because it is such a high emitter of greenhouse gases. That triggered an obligation for Australia to protect them against those impacts. One important reason was that the Torres Strait Islanders could point to effects that they were already experiencing. The case wasn’t successful, but it kicked off the idea that it might be possible to apply human rights law to address climate problems. In 2005, a group of Inuit people took a case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, claiming that the United States had violated the rights of Inuit people by failing to protect them against the impacts of climate change. Using human-rights law is a relatively new strategy. Why are people using human-rights law to address environmental concerns? And this makes it a big deal for Australia. The decision isn’t strictly legally binding - but it’s still significant, because an international group of experts has ruled that an international treaty has been breached. This is the first time that a claim related to climate harm that’s been presented to the UN Human Rights Committee has been successful. In the wake of the decision, ministers have said that they are committed to working with the islanders on climate change. The government has 180 days to respond, and there is still a lot of uncertainty about what it will do. But several committee members disagreed with this ruling. That’s possibly because the threat was deemed not to have reached a sufficiently high level. The committee rejected the claim that Australia had violated the islanders’ “right to life with dignity”. It was enough to point out, for example, that the Australian government had failed to build the seawalls requested, which would have helped the communities to adapt to climate change. Adaptation failures are much easier to prove, because there is no need to grapple with the question of who has caused the harms. The decision focused on adaptation, and basically ignored mitigation. It also decided that the Torres Strait Islanders were entitled to compensation for the harm that they have suffered. The committee ruled that the Australian government did violate islanders’ rights in failing to implement adaptation measures to protect their homes, private lives and families - as well as their ability to maintain their traditional way of life, and to pass on their culture and traditions to future generations. Their culture, too, is in peril, because salt water is killing traditional food sources, such as coconuts, and storm surges have washed away culturally significant sites, including graveyards. The islanders say that their land is under threat from rising sea levels. ![]() They brought their complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Torres Strait Islanders’ case claimed that the Australian government had failed to take mitigation and adaptation measures to combat the effects of climate change, and had therefore failed to protect their human rights. Lewis spoke to Nature about the case and its implications for other communities seeking redress for climate-change harms. Rising sea levels, coastal erosion and flooding have had devastating impacts on the island communities.īridget Lewis, at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, studies how human-rights law can be applied to environmental cases. The Torres Strait islands off the northern tip of Australia are already feeling the brunt of climate-change damage. The committee ruled last week that the country had failed to protect islanders from the effects of climate change, making their claim the first successful one of this kind. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has found that the Australian government violated the rights of people living on four islands in the Torres Strait and has ordered it to pay for the harm caused. The Torres Strait islands are already experiencing rising sea levels and coastal erosion.
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