The legal action by the Swiss Elder Women for the Climate (an association close to GPClimat Suisse, but different) and the ECHR judgment condemning Switzerland for climate inaction made us vibrate with joy at first, then with anger at the infantile reactions of our rulers. But even if official Switzerland balked, the ECHR’s landmark judgment caused a stir in the world’s media and had an international impact: the Elders for Climate made The Independent’s Climate 100 list of the world’s leading environmentalists; and within a few months, the precedent set by the Elders in the field of climate law and policy was used as a reference in at least ten new or ongoing lawsuits at international and national level. Internationally, the verdict has already had a number of repercussions. Recently, the ECHR gave priority to an application against Austria’s climate policy and asked the Austrian government to answer several questions based on the human rights requirements developed in the Elders for Climate verdict. The same applies to the “Greenpeace Nordic and Others v. Norway” case. New legal action is also being taken on the basis of this ruling in Finland and Germany. Finally, in April, at the hearing of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning an advisory opinion on climate emergency and human rights, several states have already referred to the ECHR judgment. As you can see, only Switzerland, with its political microcosm, can’t see beyond the end of its nose! Anne-Catherine Ménétrey Savary, a respected former member of parliament and “Elder for the climate” of the first hour, published a column in Le Courrier on October 8 entitled “Comme un crime de lèse-majesté” (Like a crime of lèse-majesté), which perfectly expresses our astonishment at such arrogance on the part of our leaders… and does us good! Read it here.
Laurence Martin (Past President GPClimat Switzerland)
