Summary:
On 2 May 2025, a request for an advisory opinion on climate change was submitted to the African Court on Human and People’s Rights. The request was submitted by the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), in collaboration with the African Climate Platform, and other African Civil society Organizations including the Environmental Lawyers Collective for Africa, Natural Justice and resilient40, and seeks clarification of States’ obligations in the context of climate change.
Submitted under article 4 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the establishment of an African Court on Human and People’s Rights and Rule 82(1) of the Rules of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights, the request submits that “[a]cross the continent, Africans are suffering the consequences of climate change, whether from rising temperatures, unrelenting droughts, catastrophic floods, vanishing biodiversity, or threats to livelihoods. Climate change in Africa has had prior, current and will have future consequences that impact the enjoyment of numerous rights.”
The request sets out impacts, disaggregating them region-by-region and in terms of the groups of people most affected by climate change (mentioning women and girls, children, the elderly, Indigenous peoples, and environmental human rights defenders in particular).
The request then goes on to discuss several issues of law, beginning with issues of admissibility and jurisdiction and then relying on a wide range of rights and instruments, namely:
- a) the Constitutive Act of the African Union
- b) the African Charter for Human and Peoples Rights (‘Banjul Charter’), especially articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 60 and 61
- c) African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention)
- d) Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol)
- e) The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
- f) The Revised African Convention on Conservation of Nature
- g) Any other Relevant Instrument.
In doing so, PALU invites the Court to consider international climate change law, including the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement as well as the UN Conventions on Combatting Desertification and on Biological Diversity.
Rights invoked in more detail:
PALU submits that “a rights-based climate approach is needed to address the challenges posed by climate change” and that the human rights framework “provides a robust legal framework upon which the Court may rely to define States’ responsibilities and duties in the context of climate change […] because the Charter clearly provides for collective rights and the explicit protection of the right to a healthy environment.” PALU accordingly invites the Court to consider the following provisions of the Banjul Charter:
- Articles 2 and 3 (equality and non-discrimination)
- Article 4 (right to life and inviolability of the human person)
- Article 5 (right to respect for dignity and prohibition of all forms of exploitation and degradation, including slavery and torture)
- Article 8 (freedom of conscience and religion)
- Article 9 (freedom of information and opinion)
- Article 10 (freedom of association)
- Article 11 (freedom of assembly)
- Article 12 (freedom of movement, residence and asylum; prohibition of mass expulsion)
- Article 14 (right to property)
- Article 16 (right to health)
- Article 17 (right to education)
- Article 18 (protection of the family, prohibition of age and gender discrimination)
- Article 19 (equality of peoples, prohibition of domination)
- Article 20 (right of peoples to existence and self-determination)
- Article 21 (right of peoples to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources)
- Article 22 (right of peoples to their economic, social and cultural development)
- Article 23 (right of peoples to national and international peace and security)
- Article 24 (right of all peoples to a general satisfactory environment favorable to their development)
- The request also discusses the implied rights to food and shelter.
Issues for determination:
PALU submits the following issues for determination by the Court (paraphrased):
(a) Whether the Court can be seized with the question of obligations concerning climate change under the Banjul Charter and other relevant instruments?
(b) Whether the Court can interpret and lay down applicable custom and treaty law regarding States’ obligations and duties in the context of climate change?
If these questions are resolved in the affirmative, the Court is invited to further determine:
(a) What, if any, are States’ human and peoples’ rights obligations to protect and safeguard the rights of individuals and peoples of the past (ancestral rights), and present and future generations?
(b) Whether States have positive obligations to protect vulnerable populations including environmental human rights defenders, indigenous communities, women, children, youth, future generations, the current generation, past generations, the elderly and people with disabilities from the impact of climate change in line with the relevant treaties?
(c) What human rights obligations do States have to facilitate a just, transparent, equitable and accountable transition in the context of climate change in Africa?
(d) What are the obligations of African States in implementing adaptation, resilience and mitigation measures in response to climate change?
(e) What, if any, are applicable human rights obligations of States to compensate for loss, damage and reparations?
(f) What responsibilities, if any, do African States have in relation to third parties, including international monopolies, multinational corporations and non-state actors operating on the continent, to ensure that international and regional treaties and laws on climate change are respected, protected, promoted and implemented?
(g) What, if any, is the nature of the obligations on African States to cooperate with other states especially historical emitters to limit global warming to below the 1.5°C threshold, to avert an existential climate crisis for present and future generations on the continent?
Further reading:
For more information on the advisory opinion request, see this post by Yusra Suedi.
Suggested citation:
African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Request for an advisory opinion on the human rights obligations of African states in addressing the climate crisis, filed 2 May 2025 (pending).
Last updated:
23 May 2025