Communities Demand Justice for Polluting Companies’ Contribution to Climate Change
Communities affected by environmental crises across Latin America—accompanied by FIDH and its member organisations—announced the filing of a series of lawsuits. Two are filed today in Chile and Colombia against companies for their harmful and polluting activities and for contributing to climate change.
These lawsuits mark the launch of #SeeYouInCourt, a global campaign to increase the number of such cases and to make the right to a healthy environment an internationally recognized human right...[and] to hold companies accountable for their harmful practices that prevent tens of thousands of communities around the world from living in a healthy, safe, and clean environment...
...The #SeeYouInCourt campaign aims to put in place resources that will allow the replication of similar litigation on an international scale: FIDH’s support for local organisations, the development of judicial expertise, the provision of a comprehensive guide about remedies, the creation of a network of NGOs to foster exchange and mutual support, etc. To support the multiplication of legal actions against polluting companies around the world,FIDH invites the general public to participate in the financing of these actions.
Curbing the destruction of the planet and climate change are the greatest challenges of our time, and corporate responsibility remains one of the blind spots in environmental policies. It is imperative to strengthen the mechanisms and jurisprudence that address corporations’ responsibility for their impact on the environment....
...This is why FIDH is resolutely committed to the recognition and defence of the right to a healthy environment as a "new" human right in and of itself.