Saturday, November 4, 2023

Swiss Elderly Women Sue Government for Climate Change

Date:

Elisabeth Stern grew up in rural northeastern Switzerland in the 1940s, surrounded by enormous glaciers. She spent her childhood herding goats and living a life similar to the fictional character Heidi. However, over the years, these glaciers have been melting rapidly due to global warming. One glacier called Pizol has lost at least 80% of its volume since 2006 alone. Stern could sense that something was wrong, but it wasn’t until she went on a study trip to Zimbabwe in the early 1990s that she became aware of the declining rainfall and connected it to climate change.

Although Stern’s professional life was spent as a cultural anthropologist, she decided to get involved in environmental advocacy when she returned to Switzerland. She worked in a green finance start-up by day and was immersed in the peace, feminist, and anti-nuclear movements in her spare time. When she retired at the age of 70, she had more time for campaigning and joined an association of older Swiss women called the KlimaSeniorinnen, which means Swiss Climate Seniors. The group focuses on climate campaigning and has filed a lawsuit against the Swiss government, accusing it of breaching their human rights by not doing enough to combat global climate change by cutting domestic carbon emissions.

The KlimaSeniorinnen women are taking the Swiss government to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, claiming that their health is threatened by heatwaves made worse by the climate crisis. The group has half a day to make their complex case in front of the court and has submitted a dossier of scientific evidence outlining the effects of climate change on people’s health, showing why older people and women are particularly vulnerable. Their legal team will argue that Switzerland has breached articles two and eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect the right to life and the right to respect for private and family life.

Switzerland does not deny that climate change is real and can affect human health. However, it argues that its emissions cannot be directly linked to the health of older women and maintains that its existing targets are sufficient. Climate change action, it says, is ultimately a matter for politicians to deal with. Whether the case succeeds will be down to a panel of 17 senior judges, who will also hear another climate change case on the same day against the government of France.

The KlimaSeniorinnen group comprises 65 older women who are bringing the case, including four women over 80. Stern is thrilled to meet people of her own age with similar values. She said that they might be frail in their body, but they are fit in their head and committed to something beyond themselves. Although she admits being involved in an expensive and uncertain lawsuit is “not a Sunday picnic,” Stern is pleased to have her day in court. She feels wonderful that it is finally happening and believes that it’s a historic moment for Strasbourg to decide whether there is a link between climate change and human rights.

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