This #AdvisoryOpinion presents a critical opportunity to center equity, accountability, and #HumanRights in climate action.
A clear outcome could equip communities, advocates, and citizens across Africa with stronger legal tools to hold governments and corporate actors accountable 💪
In light of Africa’s minimal contribution to global emissions and its disproportionate exposure to climate impacts, the law requires:
⛽ #PhaseOutFossilFuels now,
🌡️ Measures grounded in the best available science to effectively prevent harm,
⛔ No false solutions,
⚖️ Full climate reparations.
Initiated by the Pan African Lawyers Union, alongside a coalition of African NGOs, these proceedings mark a pivotal moment for advancing #ClimateJustice, in Africa and beyond ⚖️ 🔭.
🧑⚖️ #ClimateAccountability update: This week, CIEL submitted written observations to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights for its advisory opinion on States’ duties in the face of the climate crisis.
READ: www.ciel.org/issue/amicus...
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📣 The growing momentum for fossil fuel phaseout is undeniable.
🗓️ 45 countries will meet in Santa Marta this April to advance a just transition away from fossil fuels, as required by international law.
Learn how civil society is organizing and how you can participate ⬇️
fossilfreerising.org
The 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council has just concluded this afternoon in #GENeva!
With the #environment high on the agenda, consult the outcomes and decisions taken at #HRC61 ▶️ tiny.cc/HRC61Environ...
2️⃣ #HealthyEnvironmentForAll: @pace.coe.int's President @petrabayr.bsky.social also delivered a clear and urgent message: It’s high time for the Council of Europe to adopt a legally binding instrument to protect and ensure the right to a healthy environment.
pace.coe.int/en/news/1022...
🎉 👏 Our heartfelt congratulations to everybody who contributed to this major step, and in particular to @kimberedfwi.bsky.social for their tireless work 👏
⚠️ But the call for greater equality and dignity is far from over ⚠️
Communities in overseas territories are still not treated equally and are left to bear the disproportionate burden of overlapping climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises, which they did little to cause.
1️⃣ In a long-overdue move, 🇫🇷 France officially extended the European Social Charter to its overseas territories and communities — a major step toward guaranteeing equal social rights for over 2 million people.
Read: www.change.org/p/tous-humai...
www.coe.int/en/web/europ...
🎉 Great #EnvironmentalDemocracy news: Last week @coe.int's States made clear that social justice and environmental protection must go hand in hand:
👉 France extended the European Social Charter to its overseas territories
👉 Momentum on the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll
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The first meeting of the new global science panel on chemicals, waste, & pollution ended without taking the decisions needed for it to begin its work.
Procedural fights, obstruction, & even shouting in the plenary room derailed the negotiations.
Read our latest blog for more: bit.ly/40UJkil
Petrochemical expansion is not inevitable — it is financed.
Our new report traces $133B in bank financing and $1.6T in investor exposure behind US petrochemical growth — even as legal challenges, overcapacity, & cancellations mount
Read: bit.ly/4uOHCga
🌍 New article: Sun-dimming is the new climate #colonialism
bit.ly/4uSq2YO
Drawing on Gaza, Mohammed Usrof warns that solar geoengineering is being shaped by power, not consent, & highlights how harm can be normalised through bureaucracy.
Hear him LIVE: 26 March | 2PM UTC
Register: bit.ly/4lzzUCm
📰 New blog 📰
Multilateralism is under strain. In an ever-more polarized geopolitical landscape, the Human Rights Council remains a critical platform for advancing environmental justice, accountability, and the voices of civil society.
READ: www.ciel.org/hrc-environmental-justice/
Supporting the resolution strengthens multilateralism & is not just a symbol of hope, it's a decisive affirmation of achieving #ClimateJustice.
The UN experts’ call is clear: States must stop obstructing, step up & act ambitiously— this is not just a political choice, it is a legal responsibility.
The forthcoming resolution outlines real pathways for action:
‼️ Cooperation and compliance
‼️ A just transition away from fossil fuels
‼️ Respond to reparation claims
‼️ The effective protection of the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll.
As climate impacts accelerate—and new data show the 1.5°C warming limit could be breached by May 2029—the experts emphasize that States have legal duties to prevent and remedy harm, protect #HumanRights, and phase out fossil fuels.
Six months after the International Court of Justice’s unanimous Advisory Opinion on climate change, UN #HumanRights experts highlight that the UN General Assembly has a critical opportunity to turn legal clarity into cooperative action.
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www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
📣 New briefing
Communities are paying for climate and environmental harm—but corporations are often shielded from liability.
@fian-international.bsky.social led briefing call for enforceable obligations & a UN Binding Treaty on Business & Human Rights ⚖️
Read more: www.ciel.org/reports/time...
📢 CIEL is hiring a part-time Executive Assistant to support our CEO & senior leadership. Help manage complex calendars, coordinate meetings & travel, support executive comms & Board engagement.
📍DC or remote (in the US)
📅Apply by 3/30
🔗 cielorg.bamboohr.com/careers/128
The GEN is at the #HRC61 side event on Advancing a #JustTransition, and how human rights can underpin international processes to phase out #FossilFuels, ahead of the Santa Marta Conference on a Just Transition away from Fossil Fuels.
▶️ genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/events/fossi...
🌍 We’re hiring 🌍
CIEL is looking for an Administrative Assistant to support our Fossil Economy Program.
Join a global team advancing climate justice & accountability.
🗓 Apply by 3/30
📌 Remote or Geneva-based)
🔗 cielorg.bamboohr.com/careers/127
🚀 Ready to make a difference? CIEL is hiring a Development Associate to drive donor engagement, major gifts, and fundraising for climate & human rights justice.
📌 Remote
📆 Apply by March 18
🔗 cielorg.bamboohr.com/careers/126 🔗
For European Member States, in particular, this means:
🗳️ Leading by example by sponsoring and securing the adoption of this resolution.
⚖️ Developing a binding instrument on the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll.
www.coe.int/en/web/commi...
Climate protection, human rights, democracy & the rule of law are not separate agendas; they are one shared mission.
⏳As UN member States prepare to vote on the UNGA resolution, the message is clear: the law, the science & human rights all point in the same direction. What we need is political will.
Delivering on these obligations means:
🌡️ Taking effective action to limit global warming to 1.5°C
🏭 Advancing a just transition away from fossil fuels
⚖️ Providing meaningful remedies and reparations for climate harms
🌱 Protecting & enforcing the right to a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll.
🔍 Let’s dive in: A growing body of legal guidance — including the landmark #KlimaSeniorinnen judgment of the European Court of Human Rights and the ICJ’s 2025 Advisory Opinion — confirms that States have clear obligations under international law to address the #HumanRights impacts of climate change.
🇺🇳 The UNGA resolution — led by 🇻🇺 Vanuatu & a diverse group of States — represents an important step toward translating the legal guidance of the world’s highest court into concrete climate action: strengthening accountability & advancing climate reparations & #PhaseOutFossilFuels.
🌍⚖️ Today, @coe.int Human Rights Commissioner Michael O'Flaherty called for urgent rights-based climate action and urged UN Member States to support the upcoming #UN General Assembly resolution to operationalise the 2025 ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change.
👉 www.coe.int/en/web/commi...
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