European Convention

• A little over three years ago, a group of Portuguese youths filed a legal action against 33 European governments to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over what they say is a failure to adequately tackle global heating.
• Now, the Strasbourg court will be hearing them on 27 September, in a novel, far-fetching bid to arm-twist them into taking climate action.

The claim

• Plaintiffs expressed their grave concern over governments’ insufficient efforts to limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
• Were the rest of the world to mirror their commitments, the global temperature would hike by 2 to 3°C, according to Climate Tracker.

Human rights to the rescue of climate justice

• Against a global backdrop of increasing climate litigation, the Duarte Agostinho application follows in the steps of other climate lawsuits to draw a clear link between human rights violations and climate change.
• The first to have blazed that trail in 2015 was the Urgenda Foundation, whose legal action compelled the government to cut emissions by 25% from 1990 levels on the grounds of its applicants’ human rights.
• They also claim to suffer from anxiety after wildfires in Portugal in 2017 killed more than 120 people.
• In the absence of a specific article on environmental protection, these articles are essential tools for protecting people against various forms of pollution and other nuisances.
• The youths also argue that governments, in failing to take bold climate action, have breached Article 14, which guarantees the right not to suffer discrimination in the “enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this convention,” with the view that climate change impacts their generation in particular.

Ushering in effective action

• To prevent this from happening again, young people will be banking on a range of principles from human rights, including that of effectiveness.
• According to this postulate, states cannot remain passive in the face of a violation of the rights of individuals.
• For the court, this principle originally offered a guarantee that states would implement the positive obligations of protection required by the convention.
• The latter orders parties to take action to prevent a provision from being violated, even in a context of uncertainty.

The European court’s climate challenge

• Because the ruling is set to be issued by the Grand Chamber, there will no possibility of appealing against it.
• The question of its impact on the continent’s climate justice also remains to be seen.
• However, it could sharpen states’ resolve in climate and human rights’ matters.

• This idea was originally mooted in 2021 and dropped on the grounds that it was unworkable.
• Last year, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg blocked the UK government from sending asylum seekers to Rwanda – although it hasn’t yet delivered a final ruling on the matter.
• British courts also ruled it unsafe to send asylum seekers there, a decision that the government is appealing at the Supreme Court.

What’s the difference between sending people to Rwanda and Ascension Island?

The main difference between sending people to Rwanda and Ascension Island is that the latter is a British overseas territory. A key point in legal terms is that anyone on Ascension Island has the right to submit complaints directly to the ECHR about their treatment. In other words, if someone is tortured on Ascension Island they can complain to the ECHR about it. If they are tortured in Rwanda, they can’t.

Can the ECHR block removals to Ascension Island?

• It would be unusual but not impossible for the ECHR to prevent a country from moving people from one part to another.
• The ECHR can prevent transfer from within the state if it decides that such transfer would cause immediate harm.
• This example is particularly pertinent since it appears there isn’t even a hospital on Ascension Island.
• It’s unclear if people sent to Ascension Island would have access to the internet or phones but communication is evidently an inherent challenge in such an isolated place.

Is this plan really going to go ahead?

• The stated aim of the Rwanda policy was to deter people from using illegal ways of getting to the UK.
• According to this line of thinking, for Ascension Island to act as a deterrent, the conditions there would have to be bad.
• Clearly, removal to Ascension Island can hardly achieve this latter aim because the protection of the convention spreads to this island.

• King Charles III is the first British monarch who has previously had a civil marriage and a civil divorce.
• In 1981, Charles, then the Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer in a fairytale wedding watched by 750 million people worldwide.
• However, the royal couple separated in 1992 and they were divorced in 1996.
• Read more:
  King Charles, defender of faith: what the monarchy's long relationship with religion may look like under the new sovereign

Royal divorces

• King George IV was almost successful in divorcing his wife Queen Caroline in 1820.
• While Charles was in a similar position to his great-uncle in his marriage to Camilla, they lived in different worlds.
• Queen Elizabeth called 1992 the “annus horribilis” (horrible year) for the royal family.
• Read more:
  Australia has a new head of state: what will Charles be like as king?

Royal civil marriage

• There was controversy at the time whether a member of the royal family could legally marry in a civil ceremony.
• The British government released a statement declaring Charles could legally enter into a civil marriage.
• The civil marriage of Charles and Camilla symbolised the changing values of society.

A modern monarchy

• But Charles embodies the modern character of monarchy and the liberal values of wider society.
• Read more:
  Beheaded and exiled: the two previous King Charleses bookended the abolition of the monarchy

  Yet Charles is also pushing for a modern monarchy.

• The monarchy faces a tension between modernity and tradition.

• In addition, the legaltech is a customer centric company and has designed a customized solution that meets the needs of the European organization.
• The use of electronic signatures continues to grow, not only in private companies, but also in public bodies.
• A year ago, the Council of Europe hired Signaturit's services to digitize the signature of documents through the web platform.
• "The fact that the Council of Europe has counted on Signaturit's electronic signature to undertake new challenges is, without a doubt, a privilege for us that places us even more as leaders in electronic signatures in Europe.