A groundbreaking move in environmental justice and human rights in Africa, Africa’s climate platform, Resilient40, natural justice, environmental lawyers group
Africa will work with the Pan African Union of Lawyers (PALU) to file a petition with the African Court on the Rights of Humans and People in Arusha, Tanzania on May 2, 2025. The petition calls for an advisory opinion on the human rights obligations of African countries in the context of climate change.
This unprecedented initiative shows that African civil society has used its first time to use court advisory jurisdiction to deal with the climate crisis. This is a development that has been described by legal experts and climate activists as a transformative moment in African jurisprudence regarding climate justice and intergenerational equity.
“Africa has contributed only a small fraction of the global greenhouse gas emissions, but it faces overwhelming challenges due to the climate crisis. With astonishing rise in the frequency and severity of drought and flooding, and escalating temperatures, it poses a serious threat to both patients with natural ecosystems and mental assorted platters. The justice of communities that withstand these harsh realities is to ensure the dignity and resilience of millions of Africans facing these challenges, seeking to strengthen intergenerational responsibilities and promote a new legal framework that emphasizes the state’s multi-generational obligations and duties. The poor in Africa should not pay for the historic emitter lifestyle,” argued Alfred Brownell, chief campaigner for the African climate platform.
Based on the African Charter on the Rights of Africans, the petition calls for the court’s interpretation of the state’s obligations in major regional legal instruments, including the Maputo protocol, the Kampala Convention, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children. The petition presents an opportunity to address important legal and human rights issues and to confirm a unified continental vision rooted in the following core principles:
The state’s obligation to protect their rights to life, health, housing, food, water and a healthy environment. Legal standards for climate adaptation, resilience, and dealing with loss and damage. The obligation to protect vulnerable groups, including Indigenous peoples, women, youth and climate defenders. Accountability for multinational corporations and historical polluters. Promoting a fair transition and equitable energy system. Decolonization of natural resource governance. Zero tolerance and commitment to dignity for retaliation.
Leading by submission, legal experts, climate justice advocates, environmental defenders, and human rights activists from across the continent gathered in Arusha from April 27 to finalize the historic petition.
The initiative is hailed as a milestone in Africa’s evolving legal response to climate injustice, calling on the continent’s highest human rights courts to play a critical role in shaping climate-sensitive governance and law.
More than legal acts, the Arusha rallies are a powerful expression of solidarity from activists and frontline advocates in five African regions. Their voices, rooted in living experiences, underscore the urgency of the climate crisis.
“From the dry dams in Morocco to the thirst protests in Algeria and the Dahna disaster in Libya, North Africa reminds us that climate change is not a future threat, a current human rights crisis, unfolding water rarity, displacement and economic instability.
Lucian Limarcher of South Africa’s natural justice added: “South Africa has faced the most severe drought for over a century, with widespread crop failures and a hunger crisis of 61 million people.
Women and girls will result in disruption in education, increased domestic burdens, and increased exposure to gender-based violence. ”
“Environmental defenders and land rights activists, including Indigenous people, often face serious oppression while standing between strong interests and vulnerable ecosystems. Their work to protect natural resources and Indigenous territory often places them incredibly risk.
“Record-breaking heat and collapsed cocoa yields are burning and killing our economy. Climate change is turning West Africa’s fertile ground into a zone of despair and injustice,” said Peter Kuakka, from the MRU CSO platform in Liberia.
Dorcas Sikujua Faida of DRC emphasized:
For activist Shahinaz Adele, from Egypt, said, “The effects of the climate crisis are felt primarily by women and girls, who are family earners and caretakers.
Namibian social media influencer and artist Inna Maria Shikongo argued that “it’s time to stand up to the inequality and injustice that women and young people pass daily across the continent induced by climate change.”
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“Indigenous people and marginalized communities across Africa contribute the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, but they bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. Their livelihoods and their very existence are closely linked to natural health.
Finally, in June Cynthia Okello, Pal’s Economic Governance Officer, declared: “Africa is not a shock absorber for polluters. Through this petition, Pal, together with the people of Africa, demands clarity, accountability and justice under Africa and international law. It’s time to affirm that environmental harm is not just a scientific concern and that environmental harm is not just a concern.”
These regional perspectives and voices represent the deep human suffering and violations of rights that Africans had to endure as a result of the climate crisis caused by the scrambling of natural resources by multinational corporations. This petition calls for all Africans to take action to fight for the climate and its environment.
Following its filing on May 2, petition representatives will hold a press conference at the African Court facility in Arusha to provide further insight into this pivotal legal action.
