On October 26, 2023, the International Human Rights Center submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in connection with a request by Colombia and Chile made on January 9th, 2023 for an advisory opinion on the climate emergency and human rights. The brief was prepared by Cailin Ruff (JD 2024) and Stavroula Kyriazis (JD 2024). The brief called the Court’s attention to the impact of climate change on the human rights of women in the Caribbean region. Climate change poses a unique threat to women. It exacerbates the social, economic, cultural, and legal hurdles they face every day — higher than those faced by men. This is especially true in the Caribbean, a region that is responsible for a low contribution to global greenhouse gases but also one of the most vulnerable to climate-related disasters. The brief addresses several gender-specific challenges that the climate emergency presents to women (i.e. gender-based violence, livelihood, information gathering, water scarcity, and migration) and urges the Court to remind States of the Americas that they must develop disaster risk-reduction plans that are gender-responsive.
You can read the brief here LLS amicus brief on HR and Climate Change (10-16-23)
Read more about the request for an advisory opinion and its significance {https://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2023/02/17/a-request-for-an-advisory-opinion-at-the-inter-american-court-of-human-rights-initial-reactions/].
Learn more about the International Human Rights Center.