By Madiha Abdalla
KHARTOUM, Sudan , Nov 29 2024 – On 15 April 2023, the outbreak of war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drastically altered the face of Sudanese society. The fighting left thousands of dead, wounded, displaced people and refugees.

People went hungry, civil rights were violated in the most horrible ways, and discrimination was practiced on the basis of gender, race and tribe. Across the country, infrastructure was destroyed in cities and villages – not even hospitals and schools were spared – and the capital Khartoum became a shattered city unfit for life.

According to UN estimates, some 10.9 million people are now internally displaced within Sudan. Another 2.2 million people have fled to other countries since the conflict began. Food insecurity is rife, and the warring parties regularly attack and kill civilians.

Despite this horrific panorama, international attention to the conflict has waned and humanitarian support has been stymied – earlier this month, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that called for a ceasefire and crucial humanitarian aid.

Few have suffered more during this war than women human rights defenders (WHRDs).

Madiha Abdalla

As a longstanding WHRD and journalist, since the outbreak of the war, I was exposed to the risks of losing the right to life, as bullets and shells continued to fall on my residential area in a suburb of Khartoum, located near a military area that witnessed violent confrontations between the parties to the war since its beginning.

Initially, my family and I were displaced to a relatively safe area in central Sudan and along with fellow human rights defenders, I worked as a volunteer in shelter centres, contributing to providing services to the displaced and raising awareness of civil rights.

After the RSF invaded the area, we were displaced again, and I traveled to Uganda after the security risks increased when the war expanded. Since February 2024, I continue my journalistic and civilian work with human rights groups and journalists to stop the war and protect civilians.

WHRDs in Sudan face numerous risks as a result of this ongoing and expanded conflict. They are targeted with armed threats, liquidation, and arrest; security agencies threaten to prosecute WHRDs who work in emergency rooms that provide services and support to the displaced. These threats sometimes extend to family members, too.

Security agencies stalk and pursue WHRDs, personally targeting them and their kin. This is especially true for those who work in the legal field and monitor violations; they are regularly forced to flee and seek refuge in other regions and countries, resulting in the closure of legal offices and the loss of the right to work.

Sudanese WHRDs risk being accused of spying for one side of the war against the other, leading to armed men confiscating their phones as well as increased insecurity in using social media and exposure to the risk of being hacked.

Many WHRDs are forced to leave their homes with sick family members in harsh conditions without money or means of protection, and even though they hate to leave their homeland, they are forced to seek refuge in other countries.

Many of those forced to flee their homes due to the fighting do so on foot, with no belongings; they become displaced to other areas or live with relatives, always running the risk of violence and looting by armed men on their displacement routes.

Their freedom of movement is restricted, with threats of death and rape by armed men and the looting of phones, forcing them to remain silent and not reveal their violations out of fear. As a result, they often lose contact with relatives and other groups of WHRDs for long periods of time.

The ever-widening circle of fighting has led to many WHRDs being subjected to repeated displacement experiences, which leads to the evacuation of huge displacement complexes that include thousands of people, including these women defenders and their families.

On their way there, they are exposed to the dangers of bullets and shells and the injury of children and patients, bringing with it a constant feeling of terror, often sparked by hearing ordinary sounds.

In addition to the risk of being looted and attacked, by being repeatedly forced to leave their homes and shelters behind, women human rights defenders ran the risk of being separated from their families and losing job opportunities.

These harsh conditions have negatively affected women human rights defenders economically, socially and psychologically, and have affected human rights work in monitoring violations and defending and protecting human rights in the midst of a deadly war.

The international community should show solidarity with the people of Sudan – in particular our women human rights defenders – and support our efforts to stop the war and build peace in Sudan.

Madiha Abdalla is a Sudanese woman human rights defender and journalist. She recently visited Ireland to speak about her experiences as part of Front Line Defenders’ Dublin Platform, aimed at giving a voice to human rights defenders at risk from around the world.

IPS UN Bureau

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By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29 2024 – John Bolton a former US ambassador to the United Nations (2005-2006) once infamously declared that if the 39-storeyed UN Secretariat building in New York “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

That statement triggered a sarcastic response from a New York Times columnist who said Bolton would have done better as an urban planner than a US diplomat –while another newspaper described him as “a human wrecking ball”

Similarly, one of his successors Niki Haley told a Republican National Convention that the “UN was a place where dictators, murderers and thieves denounce America, and demand that we pay their bills.”

And now comes President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee — House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York—who has condemned the United Nations as “corrupt and antisemitic” — to be his next ambassador to the world body.

She has threatened to cut funding for the UN, including a UN agency providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and denounced the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

So, what else is new?

According to a November 11 report in Politico, a Washington-based digital newspaper, Trump is elevating a fierce critic of the U.N. as his emissary to the world body — the latest sign that he plans to make good on pledges to strongly support Israel on the world stage and play hardball with international organizations and alliances.

In a 25 September article in the Washington Examiner titled “If the United Nations continues its antisemitism, the US must withdraw support”, Stefanik said the U.N. “has proven again and again that it is a cesspool of antisemitism that has completely turned against Israel in its darkest hour.”

But her hard-hitting comments have triggered equally strong condemnations.

Kul Gautam, a former UN assistant Secretary-General, told IPS Trump’s proposed new appointment is “a frightening prospect for the UN”.

“Stefanik seems to represent the antithesis of the UN ideals, multilateralism, and respect for international laws — all in the interest of blanket US support for Israel,” he said.

Indeed, all of Trump’s national security nominees seem to fit what Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council characterizes as: Israel-First, America-Second, Humanity-Last ethos, said Gautam, a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.

According to the US Congressional Research Service (CRS), the approved regular budget for U.N. is $3.6 billion for FY 2024. The General Assembly determines a regular budget scale of assessments every three years based on a country’s capacity to pay. The Assembly will likely adopt new assessment rates for the 2025-2027 period in December 2024.

The United States is currently assessed 22%, the highest of any U.N. member, followed by China (15.25%) and Japan (8.03%).

But this may change under the Trump administration.

As Stefanik warned: “We must strive for a U.N. in which no one nation is expected to foot the bill but receive no accountability or transparency in return, in which no despot or dictator can sit in judgment of others while deflecting attention away from their own human rights abuses, and in which no organization corrupted by the likes of the Chinese Communist Party can dictate sweeping conventions and international standards across its membership”.

Ian Williams, President of the New York-based Foreign Press Association told IPS the vultures are fluttering home to roost.

“When Elise Stefanik launches off at the UN, interpreters should program their ChatGB with the translation “yada yada yada” for her message.”

Delegates and media should deride, rebut or mock her. There is no upside to pandering to her nor even to trying to reason with here, said Williams.

During the Balkan Wars, he pointed out, many young State Department professionals struck the board and cried “no more!” at the shameless double standards. The current generation appears either to be opportunistically complaisant in the face of Netanyahu’s genocide, or worse, true believers.

“Observers often wonder whether the UN could survive without the United States. Time to reverse the query- how can the UN survive in any meaningful way with the US as a malignant metastasizing tumor at its core” said Williams, a former President of the UN Correspondents’ Association (UNCA).

In his last days, Obama let through a conscience-easing resolution against Israel resolution: there is little or no chance of a significant gesture from the Biden administration in its dying days.

In contrast, Biden and Harris forfeited their chances of power with their shameless abasement to indicted war criminal Netanyahu- who had spent his term as Israeli PM campaigning against their re-election.

“We have been here before. John Bolton’s initiative to punish member states that failed to explicitly pre-amnesty American troops brought the US into more disrepute than the UN and not just its “moral” standing. It was simply shrugged off and forgotten by most members. This time, the organization’s members would get their retaliation in first. It is pointless to try creative engagement with bigots”, declared Williams.

Norman Solomon, executive director, Institute for Public Accuracy and national director, RootsAction.org, told IPS for many decades, the U.S. government has viewed the United Nations as either a legitimizing rubber stamp or a recalcitrant dissenter to be ignored and belittled.

During the leadup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, for instance, the George W. Bush administration sought UN approval and never got it. But when the Security Council approved aggressive military actions led by the United States, as with the 1991 Gulf War, officials in Washington were glad to trumpet the UN’s importance, he pointed out.

“Stefanik is a jingoistic politician who gladly asserts the U.S. prerogative to run as much of the world as possible. To the extent that the Trump administration sees the United Nations as useful in that pursuit, her stint at the UN will go smoothly.”

And to the extent that many of the countries, with the other 95 percent of the planet’s population seem to be getting in the way, “we can expect chauvinistic bombast from Stefanik, and Trump, reviling such countries and the UN as retrograde impediments to the glorious supreme virtues and power of the United States of America”, said Solomon.

Mandeep S. Tiwana, Interim Co-Secretary General, CIVICUS, told IPS the United States played a key role in the establishment of the UN in 1945.

“By choosing someone who clearly despises the UN and what it stands for as a candidate for Ambassador, Donald Trump and his advisors are repudiating the legacy of Late President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who put in significant efforts to help set up the UN as a world body committed to international law and determined to save future generations from the scourge of war,” he said.

Disdain for human rights and the rules based international order brought untold suffering to humanity in the 20th century through two world wars. It would be extremely unwise for the incoming presidential administration in the United States to ignore these lessons from history,” declared Tiwana.

Solomon argued what was sometimes a more subtle attitude of a leader, such as president Joe Biden, providing king-of-the-world messages tinged with condescension and noblesse oblige, will be transformed into a harsher and more vicious approach beginning next year.

Stefanik as a personality will be largely beside the point. The underlying imperial approach to the world will be a no-holds-barred assault in rhetorical, economic and – when seen as needed – military terms, he said

“For domestic consumption, the message from the Trump presidency will be the equivalent of no-more-mister-nice-guy, asserting that it’s time to insist on fairness to Uncle Sam at last.”

Posturing as the victim will, perhaps more than ever, be the effect of the U.S. government in foreign policy, at once claiming to be a victim while the United States renews efforts to dominate as much of the world as possible, said Solomon, author of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine”

Meanwhile, Stefanik was also critical of “the absurdly misnamed “Human Rights Council,” composed of some of the world’s worst human rights abusers, which has a standing antisemitic agenda item related to Israel and adopted a resolution stating that Israel should be held responsible for war crimes, all while failing to condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas”.

“The world is looking to the U.S. for moral leadership. As Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran and its terrorist proxies such as Hamas create a dangerous axis of evil that threatens the shared global commitment to peace, prosperity, and freedom, the U.S. must boldly defend our principles at every opportunity”, she declared.

As the largest financial contributor to the U.N., the U.S. must present the U.N. with a choice: reform this broken system and return it to the beacon of peace and freedom the world needs it to be, or continue down this antisemitic path without the support of American taxpayers, she noted.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 29 2024 – The humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues to deepen as a result of the ongoing Sudanese Civil War. Intensified conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to widespread food insecurity, with many humanitarian organizations expressing concern that starvation is being used as a method of warfare. Additionally, heightened violence has caused considerable civilian casualties.

According to a statement by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the civil war has displaced over 11 million people, becoming one of the world’s biggest displacement crises. Reports of widespread violations of international humanitarian law have impeded relief efforts greatly, worsening the pre-existing hunger crisis.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has declared Sudan to be in an emergency state of disaster due to famine. A total of 25.6 million people are facing acute hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Starvation is most concentrated in the Zamzam refugee camp, currently one of the largest and most populated displacement shelters in Sudan. “Families at Zamzam have been resorting to extreme measures to survive because food is so scarce. They are eating crushed peanut shells that are typically used to feed animals — and across the camp, parents are mourning the deaths of malnourished children,” said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General.

Additionally, soup kitchens across Sudan have seen mass closures due to severe underfunding and a lack of humanitarian assistance. Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) spoke to reporters of the scale of suffering in Sudan due to famine, opining that starvation is used as a method of warfare by the warring parties. “It’s an underfunded operation, even though it’s the world’s biggest emergency. The war will stop when these warlords feel they have more to lose by continuing fighting, than by doing the sensible thing,” he said.

A November study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Sudan Research Group indicates that the overall death toll has increased significantly following the wake of armed conflict in Sudan. The report estimates that between April 2023 and June 2024, over 61,000 people died in the Khartoum state, marking a 50 percent increase from the pre-war death rate.

It is also estimated that 26,000 deaths were a direct result of violence, with starvation and disease becoming increasingly common causes of death in Khartoum. According to the report, the total death toll may far surpass these figures as approximately 90 percent of all deaths in Sudan go unreported.

In addition to damage caused by the two warring parties, smaller armed groups have participated in looting and attacks. “The parties are tearing down their own houses, they are massacring their own people,” Egeland said.

Humanitarian organizations have expressed concern over the escalation of violence observed over the past several months. Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, predicts that Sudan could experience a “Rwanda-like genocide” based on the current circumstances. Nderitu also added that there have been reports of ethnic cleansing in El Fasher.

On November 26, the WFP announced that they would scale up aid responses in the most famine-stricken areas of Sudan following the Sudanese government issuing clearance to use the Adre border crossing.

“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one monthIn total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli.

However, due to pervasive violence and the overall urgent scale of needs, additional funding is in dire need to mitigate the deepening humanitarian crisis. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 25 million people require humanitarian assistance, which equates to nearly half of the entire population. The UN’s 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan seeks 2.7 billion dollars to provide life-saving assistance to over 14 million affected people. The UN urges continued donor support as only 56 percent of the required funds have been raised.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By Emilio Godoy
VALLADOLID, Mexico, Nov 29 2024 – Indigenous craftsperson Alicia Pech doesn’t know about the Maya Train (TM), the Mexican government’s most emblematic megaproject that runs through five states in the country’s south and southeast

“We don’t travel. We lack the resources to travel on the train here. Who wouldn’t like to get on and ride somewhere? Right now… there are no visitors, no people coming. We think that by December there will be a bit more,” the 44-year-old Mayan woman told IPS.”The Maya do not manage it or operate it… the government is trying to keep the project from being derailed. People feel it is alien to them; it is the culmination of a process of dispossession”: Miguel Anguas.

She was born and lives in Dzitnup, from where she travels every day by bus to Valladolid, a city in the southeastern state of Yucatán, 30 minutes away, to work in the clothing shop she owns with 11 other Mayan women. They weave and embroider blouses, dresses and other textiles, a couple of blocks from the city’s downtown.

The weaver, a married mother of three, complains about low sales. “We can’t afford to pay for the shop, there are no people right now,” she said.

Valladolid, which has a population of about 85,500, is one of 26 stations already in operation on the railway, whose construction began in 2020 and five of the seven planned routes have been operating since December 2023.

The TM was initially in charge of the governmental National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur) and since 2023 of the Ministry of National Defence (Sedena). It runs for some 1,500 kilometres through 78 municipalities in the three states of the Yucatán peninsula – Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán – and two other neighbouring states – Chiapas and Tabasco.

Sedena is building the two pending routes, with seven stations, between Quintana Roo and Campeche.

The line has sparked polarised controversy between its supporters and critics over deforestation in Latin America’s second largest jungle massif after the Amazon, in an issue that has become a source of weariness for the region’s communities.

A Maya Train unit waits at Chichén Itzá station, home to the archaeological site of the same name in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Pech shares the situation of thousands of people in the Yucatán peninsula, the inaccessibility of the railway and the generation of benefits, despite official promises, as IPS found during a tour of  section 3, from Calkiní (Campeche) to Izamal (Yucatán) and from there to Cancún (Quintana Roo), on  route 4.

This is in addition to the delay of the project and its cost overrun, which exceeds US$15 billion, 70% more than the initial estimate.

The train, intended for tourists, curious users and causing little enthusiasm among the local population, is empty in the larger stations, Mérida or Cancún, and passengers are scarce in the smaller ones, and does not include cargo, for now.

Between December 2023 and August, the TM carried 340,622 passengers, at a rate of 1,425 per day, according to official figures, on the 10 trains that currently run the routes, according to official data.

The tourist sites of Cancun, Merida (the Yucatan capital), Playa del Carmen, Valladolid and Palenque, which has an archaeological site, account for 80% of the passengers on the TM, which has suffered more than 20 accidents since it opened.

Although more international tourists have arrived at Merida airports or tourist destinations such as Cozumel between January and September this year, compared to the same period in 2023, it is difficult to link this to the effect of the new railway. Meanwhile, arrivals in Cancun fell by 1.5%.

Fares range from around three dollars for a one-station ride to a maximum of 156 dollars for a domestic visitor and 208 dollars for a foreign visitor, revenue that goes into the military coffers.

The Yucatán peninsula is home to the majority of the Maya population, one of Mexico’s 71 indigenous groups and one of the most culturally and historically representative in the country.

Mérida-Teya station in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán. Stops are located outside towns and cities, which makes mobility difficult due to a lack of alternatives and increases travel costs. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Someday…

In the municipality of Maxcanú – “place of the four monkeys” or “beard of Canul”, an indigenous chieftain, in the Mayan language – and some 65 kilometres from Mérida, Madelin Ortiz, a clothing shop owner, believes the train is beneficial, although she doesn’t use it and her business has not prospered yet.

“The prices are affordable, there are more visitors. There is a lack of trains, because there are few departures. There is not as much fluidity in the timetables. I’ve wanted to go to Cancún, but I haven’t been able to,” the 78-year-old shopkeeper, a married mother of four, told IPS.

But the town is not overflowing with visitors, although there are many locals celebrating the Jicama (Pachyrhizus erosus) Fair, a tuber known as the Mexican turnip.

As in other stations, Maxcanú has eight empty premises with signs such as “Food”, “Community Tourism” and “Handicrafts” waiting for shops. The same happens in Valladolid, and at the Mérida-Teya station on the outskirts of the capital, only two food shops operate, one offering TM souvenirs, another advertising a future bakery, and a car rental place.

A worker cleans the glass doors of community tourism and handicraft sales premises, which remain empty at the station in the municipality of Maxcanú, in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán. Stops have few shops, despite government offers to operate these spaces. Credit:Emilio Godoy / IPS

There are more idle times than busy ones with passengers at the station in Maxcanú, with just over 24,000 people. Four National Guard soldiers pass the time, along with three stray dogs, seeking the coolness of the station, fugitives from the sun, while five workers clean the place.

To avoid protests and urban disruption, Fonatur and Sedena built the stations on the outskirts of cities and towns, which makes it difficult to access them, due to their disconnection, and increases costs and journey times.

When he promoted the project, then president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who ruled between 2018 and last October, said the TM would support community tourism and that there would be spaces for craftspeople. But people like Alicia Pech are still waiting.

The government claims the train will bring thousands of tourists, create jobs, boost tourism beyond traditional visitor centres, and develop the regional economy, but there is no proof of this, especially since it does not carry cargo.

Permanent

There are wounds that never heal. The TM route has left cuts that mark the Mayan jungle, where there used to be trees, animals and plants. The project has faced accusations of deforestation, pollution, environmental damage and human rights violations.

Aerial view of the planned section 6, which runs from Tulum airport to Chetumal, in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo. Credit: Google Earth

Miguel Anguas, co-founder of the non-governmental organisation Kanan Derechos Humanos, says the TM creates a new territorial order causing harmful impacts, in some cases irreversible.

“The balance is clear.  The Maya do not manage it, nor do they operate it. From what we can see, the government is trying to keep the project from being derailed. People feel it is alien to them; it is the culmination of a process of dispossession,” he told IPS.

The construction cut down at least 11,485 hectares of jungle and emitted 470,750 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere, according to research by the government’s Yucatan Scientific Research Centre, made public in September.

In fact, the government paid itself to compensate for the logging.

The government’s National Forestry Commission paid 4.11 million dollars to 11 private landowners and 18 ejidos (public land assigned for collective use) for the destruction of 2,867 hectares in 2023, and 4.38 million to 40 private individuals and 15 ejidos for 2,827 hectares this year.

Compensation is a legal mechanism that allows for the restoration of one area for damage done to another.

To increase revenues and minimise losses, President Claudia Sheinbaum, in office since 1 October, plans to extend the route to Puerto Progreso, on the Yucatan coast north of Mérida, to move freight.

But the TM will continue to use resources, as the 2025 budget plans an allocation of US$ 2,173 million, both for the two lines under construction and to maintain those already in operation.

The Mexican government knew since 2022 that the mega-project would increase the initial budget.

The updated cost-benefit analysis, prepared that year by the private Mexican consulting firm Transconsult and obtained by IPS through an access to information request, concluded that the cost would be from two to four times more than the initial estimate.

“The stations were defined in terms of serving the greatest number of locations, thus covering the greatest amount of demand in the area,” the document states.

This implies losses for the TM, which would make a profit in the medium term.

While the TM struggles to advance, Pech and Ortiz fantasize that one day they will wait on the platform, see it arrive and board one of its cars.

By Ralph Regenvanu
PORT VILA, Vanuatu, Nov 29 2024 – The climate crisis has become devastating across the world over the past few months: super typhoons sweeping through the Western Pacific, unprecedented superstorms in the Gulf of Mexico, raging wildfires across the Amazon rainforest, severe flooding in Central and Eastern Europe, just to mention a few. Rising seas and intensifying storms threaten to devastate communities and erase entire countries from the map.

For countries on the front line, like Vanuatu, urgent action to halt warming is essential. In the first part of 2023, we were struck by two category 4 cyclones within days of each other. In October of the same year, another category 4 storm struck our islands.

In the face of such slow progress, Vanuatu has led an initiative to speed up climate action. We took the climate crisis to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court

This current year has been easier but the sea levels are still rising all the same and Vanuatu is projected to lose 25% of its gross domestic product (GDP) every year due to climate disasters. All the while, those responsible for the crisis continue to delay and resist the solutions that we already have at hand.

In 2015 the Paris Agreement set the course for governments to protect people and the planet and hold global warming to 1.5⁰C. The deal has led to some actions but, so far, no country is on track to meet this goal and only 10 countries are projected to come close.

The needs of countries that benefited the least from the past few centuries of uncurbed emissions have been sidelined as wealthier countries have not prioritised the emissions reductions needed.

Despite contributing just 0.02% of total greenhouse gas emissions, Pacific Island states are drowning in the consequences of others’ actions. A decade after Paris, governments like mine are still trying to prevent further harm while repairing the loss and damage that has already occurred.

In the face of such slow progress, Vanuatu has led an initiative to speed up climate action. We took the climate crisis to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world’s highest court.

Hon. Ralph Regenvanu

For the first time, the Court will confront the climate crisis, and is now tasked with preparing a new set of guidelines – a compass – to establish the obligations of countries to take action on climate change based on existing international laws. Its advisory opinion could overcome the political inertia that has delayed the lifesaving action we need.

This is the moment for the international justice system to require countries to recognise and correct the injustices of the climate crisis; acknowledging how carbon emissions are driving deadly weather events, and how polluting countries have failed to prevent the disasters that now plague us.

After the most recent round of U.N. climate change talks, a gap of USD 1 trillion gap needs to be closed between what poorer countries need and what wealthy countries are currently contributing to climate funding, to cover the costs of damages and the costs of preparation for the future impacts of the climate crisis.

The International Court of Justice gives us a platform where we, small island states, could finally overcome the power of wealthy countries, with the authority of international law to finally drive just climate action.

People around the world back this shift: 80% of citizens worldwide want more ambitious climate action to repair and revive our world. This is our chance to work together for a safe and healthy planet.

We do not yet know how the Court will decide. Some of the richest and most polluting countries would prefer not to be held accountable for deadly inaction.

For the Court to form a lifesaving opinion, countries must deliver powerful statements; their participation will be an important step in advocating for the ICJ’s guiding opinion. By collectively laying down the facts, we will be able to bridge the gap between countries’ current commitments and what is needed to restore and protect our homes.

For those of us overwhelmed by the impacts of the climate crisis, a strong ruling from the ICJ would offer hope. This opinion has the potential to become the most comprehensive tool to hold those responsible for the climate crisis accountable and help us restore what has already been lost.

Countries must own up to their responsibility. That means phasing out fossil fuel use, speeding up emissions cuts and paying for the damages that have already occurred due to their heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

I am confident that the ICJ’s opinion will become the guiding star to achieve this. The world needs governments, corporations and all major emitters to rise to the challenge of halting the climate crisis.

Whether we fail or succeed in navigating the oceans of global warming will determine the future of Vanuatu and all of us suffering from this crisis, those of us alive today and those yet to be born. Our children and grandchildren deserve to inherit a world where their rights and livelihoods are protected, not eroded by the reckless actions of previous generations. Now is the time for action.

Excerpt:

Ralph Regenvanu, Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment of the Republic of Vanuatu