Young climate activists file UN complaint against Argentina, four other nations

After global street protests demanding action on climate change, Greta Thunberg and 15 other young ac ti vistsonM onda y file dacomp la in tatt he UN againstfi ve countries for not doing enough to ward off global warming.

T he compla int accused Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey of failing to uphold their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed 30 years ago.

The complaint, filed by the 16-year-old Swedish activist and 15 other petitioners from 12 different countries aged between eight and 17, accused the five countries of violating children’s rights by failing to take adequate and timely action against climate change.

It was filed after Thunberg delivered a searing attack on world leaders for their slow response to climate change at a special session kicking off the UN General Assembly in New York.

Every member of the United Nations except the United States has ratified the convention to protect the health and rights of children.

Monday’s complaint focuses on a little-known “optional protocol” that came into effect in 2014 that allows children to file a complaint to the Committee on the Rights of the Child if they feel their rights are being denied.

The 16 young people were backed by the legal firm Hausfeld LLP and Earthjustice, an environmental law group.

Amongt he ac ti vists is 17-year-old Chiara Sacchi, from Haedo, Buenos Aires Province. According to a bio circulated by UNICEF, Sacchi is angr y over extreme weather in the region where she has lived her entire life and fears a future impacted upon by climate change.

“I’m truly mad. It’s not like ‘Oh, I’m sad.’ I’m angry! We [the children] are alone here and there aren’t a lot of people that will take action. I’m mad,” she said in comments reported and circulated by UNICEF.

Lawyer Michael Hausfeld saidthatwhileth eco mmit te e’ s recommendations are not legally binding, the 44 countries that ratified the protocol pledged to respect them. He said he hoped the recommendations would be made in the coming 12 months.

The five countries named in the complaint are among the 44 that ratified the protocol and are also among the top global polluters, as well as being members of the G20 group of leading global economies.

The largest polluters in the world – the United States, China and India – did not ratify the protocol.

Countries like France and Germany may have recently begunworking to tack le greenhouse gas emissions, but have also played a large role historically in polluting the atmosphere, the law firm argued.

At this week’s UN Climate Action Summit – at which Thunberg spoke – another Argentine also drew attention, 19-year-old Bruno Rodríguez, a vocal activist who led school strikes in the country.

“The climate and ecological crisis is the political crisis of our time, it is the economic crisis of our time, and it is the cultural crisis of our time,” declared Rodríguez to a room of world leaders, including UN Secretary General António Guterres.

“Many times, we hear that our generation is going to be the one in charge of dealing with the problems that current leaders have created, and we will not wait passively to become that future: The time is now for us to be leaders.”