Unprecedented youth climate trial demands action from 32 European governments

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8 months ago

September 28, 2023

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Heatwaves and wildfires increasing — Unprecedented youth climate trial demands action from 32 European governments Youth suing: “I’m forced to stay inside,” and “things are getting worse.”

Ashley Belanger – Sep 27, 2023 9:45 pm UTC Enlarge / Firefighters tackle a wildfire at Vale de Abelha village in Macao, Portugal, on August 16, 2017.AFP Contributor / Contributor | AFP reader comments 40 with

The largest climate case ever raised before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) kicked off Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, Reuters reported. It’s an “unprecedented” effort from six young Portuguese peopleages 11 to 24who allege that 32 European governments have failed to honor the Paris Agreement and mitigate climate change impacts, causing significant harms and violating their human rights.

Filed in 2020 after a devastating 2017 Portuguese wildfire that killed 120, the complaint alleged that inadequate state measures to reverse climate change have resulted in more frequent heatwaves and wildfires, increasing the risks of heat-related morbidity and fatal illnesses. The plaintiffs also argued that their rights to life, privacy, and family life are being violated, as well as their rights to a life free of discrimination. And because states are unlikely to act fast enough, they’ve alleged that any current risks are “set to increase significantly over the course of their lifetimes and will also affect any children they may have.”

A victory in the ECHR could lead to a ruling forcing European governments to act faster to meet ambitious climate goalslikely by phasing out fossil fuels, reducing emissions, restricting companies from contributing to emissions released overseas, and limiting imports of goods produced by releasing emissions.

More than 80 lawyers represent the accused countries, Reuters reported, and the plaintiffs are represented by six lawyers. During today’s hearing, countries argued that the plaintiffs have not shown evidence of harms caused. Representing Portugal, Ricardo Matos even questioned the victim status of the young people suing, AP News reported. Greece argued that “effects of climate change, as recorded so far, do not seem to directly affect human life or human health,” while a lawyer representing Britain argued that the case should be rejected because climate harms are “global.” Advertisement

The court is not expected to rule on the case until early 2024, Reuters reported. To win, the plaintiffs need “to convince judges that they have been sufficiently affected to be considered as victims,” AP reported. During Wednesday’s proceedings, one judge asked plaintiffs “to provide more details about how their quality of life has been affected,” AP reported. Some of the young people suing claimed in their complaint that they currently suffer from “reduced energy levels, difficulty sleeping, and a curtailment of their ability to spend time or exercise outdoors during recent heatwaves.”

“Due to heat extremes, I’m limited in how I exercise and how much time I can spend outdoors,” Andre Oliveira, a 15-year-old among those suing, said outside court Wednesday, according to Reuters. “I’m forced to stay inside, I struggle to sleep, and thanks to the weak climate policies of these governments, things are getting worse.” Governments deny young people are victims

On Wednesday, the director of the European Commission legal service, Daniel Calleja Crespo, tried to push back on claims that countries weren’t taking climate change seriously, arguing that the EU is going beyond the obligations of the Paris Agreement,” which aims for under 2 C warming.

However, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Gerry Liston, told the court that there’s evidence that governments have not done enough to comply with the Paris Agreement.

We have put forward evidence before the court that all of the respondents state climate policies are aligned to 3 (Celsius) of warming within the lifetime of the applicants, or in the case of some states, worse than that,” Liston said. “No state has put forward evidence to counter that position. Advertisement

Any decision that the court makes in this case would be legally binding for all 32 countries, which could face “hefty fines decided by the court” for any failure to comply, AP reported.

Around the world, people young and old have attempted to convince courts to pressure officials into taking climate action, as progress toward reversing impacts globally has been slow.

In the US, climate lawsuits have had some success. Earlier this year,youths won a landmark climate inaction lawsuit against the state of Montana, and young people in Hawaii and Oregon have filed similar lawsuits in their states.

In Europe, the ECHR is currently considering multiple complaints. Shortly after the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit, an association of senior Swiss women filed a complaint against Switzerland with the ECHR. As did a French lawmaker against France, AP reported. It’s possible that the ECHR will rule on all three cases at once, AP reported. As the youth climate trial began Wednesday, a co-president of the Swiss association, Anne Mahrer, traveled with other members to support activists, saying, “I wish them a future, because they are very young. We probably wont be there to see it, but if we win, everybody wins.

Another lawyer representing young people suing, Alison Macdonald, told the court that this case is about “the price” that young people “are paying for the failure of states to tackle the climate emergency. It is about the harm that they will suffer during their lifetimes unless states step up to their responsibilities.”

During the hearing, Oliveira said that he remains “hopeful that the court will understand the urgency of this situation and will side in favor of our case,” AP reported. reader comments 40 with Ashley Belanger Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

Business

Post Office spin doctor said he was in a ‘corporate cover up’ – years before apology issued to Horizon victims

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2024

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Post Office spin doctor said he was in a 'corporate cover up' - years before apology issued to Horizon victims

A former Post Office communications director told fellow employees he was at “the heart of a corporate cover-up”, at the same time as sub-postmaster prosecutions were taking place and years before an apology was made to victims.

The inquiry into faulty Horizon software, and the associated prosecution of 700 sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting, is taking place to establish a clear account of the implementation and failure of the Fujitsu created software.

As well as the wrongful convictions many more sub-postmasters racked up large debts, lost homes, livelihoods, and reputations as they borrowed heavily to plug Horizon’s incorrectly generated shortfalls in their Post Office branches.

The issue has received renewed attention after the January airing of ITV drama Mr Bates v The Post Office.

An email presented to the inquiry on Tuesday showed the Post Office’s former group communications and corporate affairs director Mark Davies believed he was part of a cover-up and conspiracy.

“It’s fascinating to be part of a conspiracy. To be at the heart of a corporate cover-up,” Mr Davies said in an email to Post Office communications staff, a legal team member, and another director.

At the time the email was sent, in January 2015, the Post Office was prosecuting sub-postmasters using data from Horizon.

It wasn’t until 2019 that an apology was issued to sub-postmasters as part of their successful High Court challenge of Horizon and related prosecutions.

‘Blaming the journalists’

Despite this, it was known at the time that branch accounts could be accessed and altered remotely by the maker Fujitsu or by the Post Office IT helpdesk.

Mr Davies, appearing at the inquiry, said he thought this remote access was only used once when asked why one of his employees said the idea of remote access was “totally loony” and a “conspiracy theory”.

Emails sent by him were consistently “blaming the journalists” for asking questions about Horizon failings, a barrister for the inquiry Julian Blake said.

It was a characterisation accepted by Mr Davies, who said: “With the benefit of hindsight, they absolutely, some of [the emails] look ludicrous, I agree.”

A report into Horizon flaws conducted by forensic accountants Second Sight commissioned by Post Office had identified bugs but Mr Davies and his team viewed its authors as lacking independence.

Second Sight were “colluding” with sub-postmasters, Mr Davies said in an email to the Post Office’s then chief executive Paula Vennells.

Various emails shown to Mr Davies on Tuesday described journalists and Second Sight as “attackers” and media reports as “sloppy”.

Additional reporting by Evan Dale.

Business

Labour leader reassures union bosses in row over workers’ rights plans – but it’s not over yet

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2024

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Labour leader reassures union bosses in row over workers' rights plans – but it's not over yet

Sir Keir Starmer has moved to reassure trade union bosses about his party’s plans to strengthen workers’ rights, after he was accused of watering them down.

The party has promised a radical shake-up for workers if they win office – including banning zero hours contracts, employment rights from day one, and ending the practice of “fire and rehire”.

The new deal for working people was billed as the biggest advance in workers’ rights for decades when first unveiled by Angela Rayner in 2021.

The party made some changes last summer, but union bosses claimed a new document circulated to them last week was an attempt to row back further on these commitments.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, called the new document – which has not been made public – a “betrayal” and “unrecognisable” from the original plans.

Politics latest: Sunak’s speech ‘should be investigated’, say Lib Dems

With tensions running high, bosses of trade unions affiliated to Labour met with Sir Keir, deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and agreed to scrap the new draft.

In a joint statement they said: “Labour and the affiliated unions had a constructive discussion today. Together we have reiterated Labour’s full commitment to the new deal for working people as agreed in July.

“We will continue to work together at pace on how a Labour government would implement it in legislation.”

Union sources who feared the Labour leadership were bowing to pressure from big business ahead of the election, claimed the party had been talked into a retreat.

After three hours at Labour’s south London headquarters – although it is understood Sir Keir was not there for the whole meeting – Ms Graham said Labour’s position had changed.

She told Sky News: “It was constructive. I think it was really important to have the workers’ voices heard in the meeting itself, because we wanted to reaffirm our position that the New Deal for Working People must be implemented.

“We’ve got a really good position where that has been recommitted to. We’re meeting again in three weeks’ time after we put some information together to discuss a new document. It was a crunch meeting. It was a red line meeting. But I think we’ve got there.” She added: “I think it [Labour’s position] has changed”.

The new deal had originally come with a promise that an “employment rights bill” to legislate for it would be introduced within 100 days of winning power, although this is now seen as unrealistic.

Some changes were agreed last summer at the national policy forum, a gathering of party officials, MPs and union leaders, which the Unite boss claimed was an attempt to “curry favour with big business”.

The Financial Times reported last week that a new draft included even more business-friendly language on fire and rehire – essentially sacking workers and hiring them back on less favourable terms.

The paper reported that it contained a line about the importance of allowing businesses to “restructure to remain viable and preserve their workforce when there is genuinely no alternative”.

It was also claimed that zero hours contracts would not be completely banned because some people choose to have them – but give workers rights to a contract reflecting their usual work pattern.

Labour has also promised to bring in fair pay agreements for social care workers, which a right-wing research group Policy Exchange claimed could add £225 to the average council tax bill.

Sir Keir’s party has already pruned back their 2021 plans to invest £28bn in green energy, after a protracted battle within the party.

Union leaders will be holding Sir Keir and his shadow chancellors’ feet to the fire to ensure another of his party’s more radical dividing lines does not go the same way, under the glare of an election campaign.

But despite the smiles today, this is a row delayed, with more wrangling to be done.

Politics

Tory MPs share despair at PM’s top team over Commons vote in leaked WhatsApps

Published

2 hours ago

May 14, 2024

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Tory MPs share despair at PM's top team over Commons vote in leaked WhatsApps

The frustration and despair of Tory MPs felt towards Rishi Sunak’s top team is revealed in leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by Sky News.

One MP called the parliamentary operation a “shitshow” and “crazy”, while another said they were “at a loss” at the handling of a crunch Monday night vote on excluding MPs arrested on suspicion of serious sexual or violent offences.

They echo comments Tory MPs have made privately to Sky News.

Politics latest: UK to build new warship

There is fury today among Tory MPs after most found themselves on the losing side of a vote on a Lib Dem and Labour motion to exclude any MP arrested for a serious offence from the parliamentary estate, which would bring Westminster into line with many other workplaces.

The bulk of Tory MPs backed a different plan – to exclude MPs at the point of charge, arguing that MPs could easily become the target of vexatious complaints.

It was a free vote, which meant MPs did not have to vote on party lines.

However, in a move that baffled Conservative MPs, when the Commons came to vote to overturn the opposition motion, the Tory whips did not put up “tellers” – vote counters – and so it could not be held, meaning the opposition motion passed.

This often happens because of disorganisation or confusion about events in the chamber, and often marks a failing of either the Tory whips or the Commons leader’s office – figures appointed by Mr Sunak.

The WhatsApps show a government minister – Anne Marie Trevelyan – summoning Tories after initially losing the Lib Dem vote: “Anyone on estate who didn’t vote on amendment O please return asap! Lost amend by one vote. Otherwise the decision is arrest Not charge.”

Other Tories – Jill Mortimer and Jack Brereton – add weight to the appeal to vote down the Lib Dem motion, as does minister Greg Hands.

Brendan Clarke-Smith calls the Lib Dem plan to exclude MPs from parliament on arrest “an attack on basic civil liberties”.

However, Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne suddenly announces three minutes later: “Division off!”

There is incredulity with Pauline Latham demanding to know what has happened, adding: “This is crazy.”

Miriam Cates explains to colleagues there were no tellers, Angela Richardson says “what a shitshow!”, Andrea Leadsom says “A sad day”. Ms Cates says: “I am completely at a loss to understand why those of us who shouted ‘no’ were not told that there were no tellers” – indicating frustration with Mr Sunak’s parliamentary operation.

Mr Clarke-Smith says: “Angela better hope her interview goes well then. Unbelievable.” This is a reference to Angela Rayner, who is currently under police investigation and could be interviewed under caution in coming weeks. She denies all allegations and has not been arrested and Labour says this will not happen, but even if she were, she would not be excluded because the reason for arrest is unlikely to pass the serious offence test.

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The dialogue concludes with Mr Brereton saying: “We’re all going to be banned from the estate now…” and Ms Cates saying, “Watch the vexatious complaints roll in…”

One Tory said there was an “end of days vibe” in the Tory Party and the messages were evidence of a “meltdown” because the Tory whips can’t handle simple votes.

They too call it a “shitshow”.