On 23 April, Dr Natalie Dietrich Jones, Research Fellow of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), participated in a historic Public Hearing of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) on the request for an Advisory Opinion OC-32 “Climate Emergency and Human Rights” by Colombia and Chile. The hearings took place at the Business School of the Cave Hill Campus between 23 and 25 April 2024.

Attendance at the hearing brings to fruition work undertaken during 2023, where Dr Dietrich Jones contributed to a Working Group of academics and activists with an interest in internal and cross-border displacement and climate change. The Working Group, which was constituted by the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS), International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Global Center for Legal Environmental Studies (GCELS) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University, SALISES, The University of the West Indies, Alianza Americas, Refugees International and Shana Tabak, had submitted an amicus curiae in December 2023 to the IACtHR.

Representing the delegation at the Court were Dr Dietrich Jones, Camila Bustos (GCELS), Felipe Navarro Lux (CGRS) and José Miranda (IRAP). The delegation’s submission represented work completed as a satellite project, based on funding and technical support provided by the IRAP to prepare a Legal Action Agenda on Climate Displacement in the Americas https://refugeerights.org/news-resources/legal-action-agenda-for-climate...

At the hearing, Dr Dietrich Jones urged the Court in its deliberations on differentiated responsibility, to consider “the distinctive human rights settings which shape the jurisdictions which will receive the opinion, in particular, SIDS”. The presentation from the delegation followed a first session, which included input from the Cave Hill Faculty of Law, the One Ocean Hub and collaborators, which focused on the law of the sea. The Court is now in the process of reviewing submissions to issue its advisory opinion.