The Committee determined that Australia should (1) provide the islanders with adequate compensation for the harm suffered; (2) begin consultations with the islanders in order to conduct needs assessments; (3) continue implementing adaptation measures against climate change; and (4) prevent similar violations in the future. Australia has 180 days to inform the Committee of steps taken to implement the decision.
This is a case of many firsts for the advancement of environmental protection at the international law level, as well as for the advancement of Indigenous Persons’ rights. It represents a successful legal action grounded in human rights brought by climate-vulnerable inhabitants of low-lying islands against a nation state. It also represents the first time that a United Nations body has found a State violated international human rights law through inadequate climate policy, establishing that human rights law applies to climate harm. It is also the first ruling recognizing that Indigenous Peoples’ culture is at risk from climate change impacts.
The Committee notably rejected Australia’s efforts to skirt responsibility for climate change by attributing it to a “global” and broader international phenomenon, setting a precedent barring States from hiding behind the drop-in-the-ocean argument and failing to take charge of their own responsibility for climate mitigation.
