💪 A group of #OlderWomen from Switzerland 🇨🇭 have won the first ever #climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights ❣️
The story begins in 2016, when KlimaSeniorinnen (translates into something like older women for climate), then made up of around 150 older women, launched a legal battle against the Swiss authorities over the consequences that “increasingly frequent and intense” heat waves have on their health.
The Federal Administrative Court and, subsequently, the Federal Supreme Court, the country's highest legal authority, dismissed the appeals, considering that the plaintiffs had not been sufficiently and directly affected by the non-compliance they alleged.
In 2020, with the support of Greenpeace Switzerland, they appealed to the ECHR, which accepted the case. The fact that the court held a public hearing on a climate change case in March 2023, for the first time in its history, raised hopes, but few could imagine a ruling like this Tuesday's, in which the judges concluded that Switzerland has violated its obligations under ECHR, specifically the right to a fair judicial process and the right to respect for private and family life, which in the Court's view encompasses the “right of people to effective protection by state authorities against the serious adverse effects of climate change on their lives, health, well-being and quality of life.
This is an incredible success story in our fight against #ClimateChange led by an inspiring group of #OlderWomen who are also defying age-based stereotypes!
👏 Today this association of older women is made up of around 2,500 people, with an average age of 73 years. I look forward to seeing what more you accomplish!
#AWorld4AllAges is possible.
Legal Campaigns Director | Human Rights Expert
5moI was not involved in this case, though I wholeheartedly support it :) The KlimaSeniorinnen, Greenpeace, and Cordelia Bahr were leading this case.