Today, December 2, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will begin hearings from an unprecedented 110 nations and international nongovernmental organizations.
The ICJ case will consider international legal consequences faced by States for climate change harms, from the disasters that are causing environmental and cultural damages.
The first State to present will be Vanuatu, the Pacific Island nation that initiated the request for the advisory opinion from the ICJ, along with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).
The Vanuatu Climate Justice Program stated that “Vanuatu looks to the ICJ and its advisory opinion to establish and clarify the very critical obligations and consequences for climate harm, providing a foundation for accountability and redress for communities and peoples already suffering losses and damages.”
Today Vanuatu and MSG will be joined at the Peace Palace in The Hague by their shared legal counsel from Blue Ocean Law, which is an international Indigenous-led law firm based in Guam. The key spokespersons are Ralph Regenvanu, Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment, Government of Vanuatu, Ilan Kiloe, Legal Counsel for the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh and Julian Aguon, legal counsel for Vanuatu’s and MSG’s ICJ case, Blue Ocean Law.
The core group of countries that support the ICJ case comprises Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Germany, Liechtenstein, Federated States of Micronesia, Morocco, Mozambique, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Uganda, Vanuatu and Vietnam.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. It is one of the six organs of the United Nations (UN), and is located in The Hague, Netherlands.
