On March 3, 2021, Italian youth filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against 33 countries. The applicant is an 18-year-old woman living in a small town in southern Italy (Matera) which is prone to floods. She claims to suffer from allergies (skin rush) and psychological distress due to global warming (states of anxiety caused by the inability to go out during the day and, more generally, by concerns about the future and the possibility of continuing to live there due to global warming), which is to be manifested in extraordinarily high temperatures in summer and severe flooding. She lives in a flood zone (Matera).
Relying on Articles 2, 8, 13 and 14, she complains that the 33 States parties to the Convention which are also parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement (including Turkey, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Norway and France) have not taken sufficient measures to implement the latter. She complains about a violation: (i) of the positive obligations of States under Articles 2 and 8 to protect the environment; (ii) of Article 14, since the harmful effects of global warming would hit the younger generations harder; (iii) of article 13, alleging that the domestic remedies would not be effective since she would be forced to lodge a complaint in the courts of 33 States, a burden which it would be impossible for her to bear because of her young age and limited financial resources.
The case is similar to Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Other States. The case is brought against the Member States of the EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden) as well as Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The complainants allege that the respondents have fallen short of their human rights obligations by failing to agree to emissions reductions that will keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as envisioned by the Paris Agreement.
Case Documents:
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