[Conference] Legal Advisory Opinions Shaping Climate Action and Human Rights

The NNHRR Working Group on Human Rights & the Climate Crisis invites you to join their Annual Conference on "Legal Advisory Opinions Shaping Climate Action and Human Rights". The conference, organized by Julie Fraser, Anneloes Kuiper, Otto Spijkers and Patricio Trincado Vera, will take place at Leiden University College  (Anna van Buerenplein 301, The Hague) on 6 November 2025. Interested Network members are also welcome to join a free screening of "YUMI - The Whole World" at Leiden University College Auditorium (Anna van Buerenplein 301, The Hague) on 5 November between 17.00-19.00 (registration required).

Background

On 23 July 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an historic Advisory Opinion confirming that States have binding legal obligations under international law, including customary law and human rights law, to protect the climate system from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The Court emphasized that the adverse effects of climate change threaten core human rights, including the right to life, health, housing, food, water, and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This much anticipated Opinion was the result of years of advocacy started by the Pacific Island State of Vanuatu, which is already experiencing the existential harm of the climate crisis.

This initiative has triggered other requests for similar Advisory Opinions. For example, on 3 July 2025, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACtHR) issued a far-reaching Advisory Opinion on the climate emergency and human rights as requested by Chile and Colombia. Besides confirming its previous case-law on environmental issues, the IACtHR introduced several groundbreaking elements. Most notably, the Court (1) declared the obligation to not cause irreversible damage to the climate and to the environment as a jus cogens norm, (2) stated that the right to a healthy climate is a substantive aspect of the right to a healthy environment, and (3) introduced the thesis of Rights of Nature into the Inter-American systems by considering Nature as a subject of rights protected under the American Convention on Human Rights. Additionally, in May 2025, a request was put forward by civil society to the African Court of Human and People’s Rights for an Advisory Opinion on the human rights obligations of African states in the context of climate change.

Conference Programme

Wednesday 5 November

17.00-19.00 | Film Screening "YUMI - The Whole World"

Thursday 6 November

09.30-11.00 | Opening Plenary

11.00-11.20 | Coffee break

11.20-13.00 | Parallel Session 1: Healthy Environment

11.20-13.00 | Parallel Session 2: Climate Litigation: Techniques and Approaches

13.00-14.00 | Lunch

14.00-15.40 | Parallel Session 3: The Advisory Opinions in Context

14.00-15.40 | Parallel Session 4: Reparations and Future Generations

14.00-15.40 | Parallel Session 5: Cross-Fertilization Between Opinions of the IACtHR and the ICJ

15.40-16.00 | Coffee break

16.00-17.00 | Closing Plenary

17.00-18.00 | Drinks

A full programme overview is available here.

Registration

Please register here before 24 October 2025. Registration is subject to confirmation and piority will be given to NNHRR members.