Latest news with #lawstudents
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change
A landmark decision by a top UN court has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming gases. But the judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday said that untangling who caused which part of climate change could be difficult. The ruling is non-binding but legal experts say it could have wide-ranging consequences. It will be seen as a victory for countries that are very vulnerable to climate change, who came to court after feeling frustrated about lack of global progress in tackling the problem. The unprecedented case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was the brainchild of a group of young law students from low-lying Pacific islands on the frontlines of climate change, who came up with the idea in 2019. "Tonight I'll sleep easier. The ICJ has recognised what we have lived through - our suffering, our resilience and our right to our future," said Flora Vano, from the Pacific Island Vanuatu, which is considered the country most vulnerable to extreme weather globally. "This is a victory not just for us but for every frontline community fighting to be heard." The ICJ is considered the world's highest court and it has global jurisdiction. Lawyers have told BBC News that the opinion could be used as early as next week. Campaigners and climate lawyers hope the landmark decision will now pave the way for compensation from countries that have historically burned the most fossil fuels and are therefore the most responsible for global warming. Many poorer countries had backed the case out of frustration, claiming that developed nations are failing to keep existing promises to tackle the growing problem. But developed countries, including the UK, argued that existing climate agreements, including the landmark UN Paris deal of 2015, are sufficient and no further legal obligations should be imposed. On Wednesday the court rejected that argument. Judge Iwasawa Yuji also said that if countries do not develop the most ambitious possible plans to tackle climate change this would constitute a breach of their promises in the Paris Agreement. He added that broader international law applies, which means that countries which are not signed up to the Paris Agreement - or want to leave, like the US - are still required to protect the environment, including the climate system. The court's opinion is advisory, but previous ICJ decisions have been implemented by governments, including when the UK agreed to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius last year. "The ruling is a watershed legal moment," said Joie Chowdhury, Senior Attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law. "With today's authoritative historic ruling, the International Court of Justice has broken with business-as-usual and delivered a historic affirmation: those suffering the impacts of climate devastation have a right to remedy for climate harm, including through compensation," she added. The court ruled that developing nations have a right to seek damages for the impacts of climate change such as destroyed buildings and infrastructure. It added that where it is not possible to restore part of a country then its government may want to seek compensation. This could be for a specific extreme weather event if it can be proved that climate change caused it, but the Judge said this would need to be determined on a case by case basis. It is not clear how much an individual country could have to pay in damages if any claim was successful. Previous analysis published in Nature, estimated that between 2000 and 2019 there were $2.8 trillion losses from climate change - or $16 million per hour. A simple guide to climate change Four ways climate change worsens extreme weather What you can do to reduce carbon emissions Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to get exclusive insight on the latest climate and environment news from the BBC's Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt, delivered to your inbox every week. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here. Solve the daily Crossword
ABC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
International Court of Justice says countries failing to tackle climate change risk breaking international law
The world's highest court has declared states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change and that failing to do so is a "wrongful act" that could open the door to reparations. The landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is seen as a possible turning point in international climate law. "Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system … may constitute an internationally wrongful act," court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. "The legal consequences resulting from the commission of an internationally wrongful act may include … full reparations to injured states in the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction." The court added that a "sufficient direct and certain causal nexus" had to be shown "between the wrongful act and the injury". In its non-binding opinion, which runs to more than 500 pages, the ICJ said a "clean, healthy and stable environment" is a human right. Enshrining a sustainable environment as a human right opens the prospect of further legal action, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other accountable, as well as domestic lawsuits and legal instruments including investment agreements. The case was prompted by a group of law students from Vanuatu, and backed by more than 130 other countries. Vanuatu's special envoy on climate change, Ralph Regenvanu, hailed the court's decision as a "landmark milestone". "It's a very important course correction in this critically important time," Mr Regenvanu said. Advocates immediately cheered on hearing the court hand down its opinion. "The ICJ's decision brings us closer to a world where governments can no longer turn a blind eye to their legal responsibilities," said director of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, Vishal Prasad. All members of the United Nations are party to the court, including major emitters like the United States and China. The 15 judges on the United Nations's court were tasked with answering two questions: ICJ president Yuji Iwasawa said climate change was an "urgent and existential threat", adding the climate "must be protected for present and future generations" and the adverse effect of a warming planet "may significantly impair the enjoyment of certain human rights, including the right to life". The case was the biggest the ICJ had handled, with judges pouring over tens of thousand of pages of submissions from countries and organisations around the world, including Australia. Outside the court in the Hague, about a hundred demonstrators waved flags and posters bearing slogans like "No more delay, climate justice today". They watched proceedings on a big screen, clapping and cheering at times during the two-hour hearing. When it was over, others emerged from the courtroom laughing and hugging. Courts have become a key battleground for climate action as frustration has grown over sluggish progress toward curbing planet-warming pollution from fossil fuels. The Paris Agreement struck through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has rallied a global response to the crisis, but not at the speed necessary to protect the world from dangerous overheating. More than 100 nations and groups gave submissions at a mammoth hearing in December in the Great Hall of Justice in the Hague. Many hailed from distant Pacific Island nations, and delivered impassioned appeals in the sober arena while dressed in colourful traditional attire. The debate pitted major wealthy economies against the smaller, less developed states most at the mercy of a warming planet. Big polluters including the United States and India argued that legal provisions under the UNFCCC were sufficient and a re-examination of state responsibility in relation to climate action was not necessary. But smaller states refuted this, saying the UN framework was inadequate to mitigate climate change's devastating effects and that the ICJ's opinion should be broader. These states also urged the ICJ to impose reparations on historic polluters, a highly sensitive issue in global climate negotiations. They also demanded a commitment and timeline to phasing out fossil fuels, monetary compensation when appropriate, and an acknowledgement of past wrongs. ABC/wires
BBC News
7 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change
A landmark decision by a top UN court has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming the judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday said that untangling who caused which part of climate change could be ruling is non-binding but legal experts say it could have wide-ranging will be seen as a victory for countries that are very vulnerable to climate change, who came to court after feeling frustrated about lack of global progress in tackling the problem. The unprecedented case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was dreamt up in 2019 by a group of young law students in low-lying Pacific islands on the frontlines of climate change."Tonight I'll sleep easier. The ICJ has recognised what we have lived through - our suffering, our resilience and our right to our future," said Flora Vano, from the Pacific Island Vanuatu, which is considered the country most vulnerable to extreme weather globally."This is a victory not just for us but for every frontline community fighting to be heard." The ICJ is considered the world's highest court and it has global jurisdiction. Lawyers have told BBC News that the opinion could be used as early as next week. Campaigners and climate lawyers hope the landmark decision will now pave the way for compensation from countries that have historically burned the most fossil fuels and are therefore the most responsible for global poorer countries had backed the case out of frustration, claiming that developed nations are failing to keep existing promises to tackle the growing developed countries, including the UK, argued that existing climate agreements, including the landmark UN Paris deal of 2015, are sufficient and no further legal obligations should be Wednesday the court rejected that Iwasawa Yuji also said that if countries do not develop the most ambitious possible plans to tackle climate change this would constitute a breach of their promises in the Paris added that broader international law applies, which means that countries which are not signed up to the Paris Agreement are still required to protect the environment, including the climate court's opinion is advisory, but previous ICJ decisions have been implemented by governments, including when the UK agreed to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius last year. Sign up for our Future Earth newsletter to get exclusive insight on the latest climate and environment news from the BBC's Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt, delivered to your inbox every week. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.
Reuters
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
ABA defends its diversity scholarships as protected free speech
June 17 (Reuters) - The American Bar Association said on Monday that a scholarship program designed to boost diversity among law students is protected free speech, in a bid to toss a lawsuit brought by a prominent conservative group alleging the program is discriminatory. The ABA's 25-year-old Legal Opportunity Scholarship is protected under the First Amendment, the organization said in a motion to dismiss, opens new tab filed in an Illinois federal court. The ABA also claimed that plaintiff American Alliance for Equal Rights lacks standing to sue. 'The ABA has a First Amendment right to distribute funds as it deems appropriate, consistent with its organizational goals,' the motion said. The Alliance, which is led by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, had sued the ABA in April alleging that the Legal Opportunity Scholarship program discriminates against white applicants because they are ineligible to apply. Blum was the architect of the 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action case that barred the consideration of race in college admissions. The Alliance said it is representing an unnamed white male law school applicant who alleges he would apply for the $15,000 scholarship were he eligible. The ABA awards between 20 and 25 such scholarships annually to incoming law students, according to its motion to dismiss. That anonymous member lacks standing to sue because the lawsuit does not show he was 'ready and able' to apply for the Legal Opportunity Scholarship, the ABA claims. He did not take any 'concrete steps to express his interest in, or apply to' the scholarship program beyond 'words of general intent,' according to the motion. Reached by email for comment on Tuesday, Blum said none of the 18 lawsuits the Alliance has filed in the past two years alleging racial discrimination have been dismissed for lack of standing. 'It seems likely that this assertion will fail,' he said. Blum also called the ABA's First Amendment claim a "Herculean stretch." The ABA declined to comment on Tuesday. The ABA's motion also claimed that the Legal Opportunity Scholarships are discretionary gifts and not contracts that are subject to the federal law requiring equal rights in making and enforcing contracts. The ABA had in October revised the criteria for its judicial clerkship program, which encourages judges to hire diverse law clerks, to eliminate references to minority students and "communities of color." The ABA made that change after a different conservative legal group, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, had filed a complaint against the ABA with the U.S. Department of Education in May 2024 and threatened further legal action, alleging that the ABA was illegally discriminating by using racial quotas. Read more: ABA sued over diversity scholarships by conservative group ABA strikes 'minority' and 'of color' from clerkship criteria amid lawsuit threat
The Guardian
16-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Overturning miscarriages of justice and boosting local businesses – the power of real-world university learning
When lawyers at Northumbria University's Student Law Office (SLO) were approached by a man who appeared to have been wrongfully imprisoned for eight years for armed robbery, they believed their students could help. At the SLO, students research, interview, and sometimes represent clients on a pro bono basis, all supervised by experienced lawyers. They were right – students successfully worked to get Alex Allan's conviction overturned back in the early 2000s and, after taking his case to the court of appeal, he was paid £170,000 in compensation for the miscarriage of justice. Since then, real-world learning at Northumbria University has been driving change, helping the local community and powering the economy in the north-east. While most cases at the SLO, set up in the 1980s to give students real-world law experience, are less high profile than Allan's, they are no less impactful for the clients at the centre of them. 'We get a lot of demand,' says Dr Jonny Hall, a solicitor who worked on part of Allan's case and is now the university's academic lead for all aspects of experiential learning. Students typically work in pairs, spending some 10-15 hours a week on real-life cases across areas of law including family, crime and human rights as part of their third-year studies. 'They gain skills and experience but also knowledge and attributes,' Hall says. 'The SLO introduces students to the reality of how lawyers might be able to help people.' The SLO is just one example of how the university is integrating real-world learning within its courses, helping both students and those living, working and trading in the local area. The Business Clinic is a similar initiative. Final-year business students consult and advise national and international companies, local SMEs, social enterprises and charities on business problems, from helping a home fragrance business with its latest marketing campaign to supporting the RNLI with a series of events and fundraising ideas to help sustain the future of its base in the nearby seaside town of Cullercoats. 'It's embedded into the curriculum – we've made it an integral part of their degree – and that's important because students then have the time to devote to it,' Hall says. 'It's not just about learning by doing, it's about students applying the knowledge they are gaining in the real world to further their understanding, skills and future careers. Alongside this, they are contributing to the local economy and community – the benefits really are widespread.' The majority of the university's undergraduate degree programmes already include real-world learning, and Northumbria's goal for the future is for every UK-based undergraduate student to take part in this transformative learning as part of their studies. Many courses, such as nursing, education and social work, already require students to spend a significant percentage of their time on placement, developing the skills they need in a real-life environment. The university has enhanced the way these students train by investing in VR technologies which provide simulation scenarios to help them prepare and rehearse in a safe environment on campus, before they face similar scenarios in the real world. This ethos carries through to other courses. Physiotherapy students help patients with real issues in the Physiotherapy clinic, supervised by a chartered physiotherapist. Law and history students have collaborated to dig into legal archives, while fashion students work with major-label brands on live projects including design, marketing and social media campaigns, many of which have led to employment after graduation. 'It's a really important part of what we're trying to do across the university,' Hall says. 'We're trying to make these kinds of connections to the outside world, and to real experience,' he says. 'Each student goes on an individual journey, and for most I would say it enhances both their learning experience and their career prospects.' This approach has helped Northumbria University drive social mobility and power an inclusive economy in the north-east, an integral part of the university's mission. 'Northumbria places more graduates in highly skilled north-east positions than any other university,' says Prof Graham Wynn, the university's pro-vice-chancellor (education). 'We do this by constantly evolving our education offer to be ever-more responsive to the educational needs of our students and our region.' This creates a pipeline of talent for the area's economy and beyond – the university supplies policing, nursing and social work apprentices in the region, as well as healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs and skilled graduates for established and emerging sectors. 'I think Northumbria is a great example of a university that really is very focused on its economic mission and that means making sure students get good jobs on graduating, or create jobs for themselves and other people,' says Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, which has recently published reports on the skills needed by employers over the next decade and the economic impact of start-up and spin-out businesses originating from universities. 'The university works hard to make sure students can show prospective employers what they have done that has real-world applicability and will make them really attractive.' One of the university's great success stories is iamproperty, a business founded by two Northumbria graduates in 2009, with support from the university. It has since grown to become a business with annual revenues of £76m, making it one of the UK's largest residential auctioneer companies, employing more than 700 people. However, back in 2008, founders Ben Ridgway and Jamie Cooke were just two 24-year-olds with an idea. '[The university] was able to give us a small two-man office in the business centre that covered our phone bills, print bills and post bills for that first year,' Cooke says. 'They put us in contact with advisers, helped with our accounting process and legals and that was really, really helpful.' Without the university's backing, he says, it would have been difficult for the fledgling company to get off the ground. 'I'd like to think we would have got there, but I know for a fact that our growth would have been stunted without the support that we had,' Cooke says. 'They knew we were wet behind the ears and they put their arms around us and helped us.' Now, iamproperty recruits graduates from Northumbria University because the founders value the real-world learning students get there. 'We were really looking back to the university as a talent pool to recruit from because we knew the kind of education and the knowledge people were coming out with, and we knew they were hands-on, that they'd had the level of experiences that we had had,' Cooke says. 'We attend all its graduate fairs … to make sure we're bringing in a really high calibre of people with a real base knowledge that we can push on from.' Overall, Northumbria University's emphasis on experiential learning is supporting local communities and businesses, and beyond. The SLO, Business Clinic and success stories like iamproperty are examples of how 'economic powerhouses' such as Northumbria University are powering an inclusive economy that benefits everyone, says Stern. 'There are seeds of tangible, meaningful growth that will mean people in the north-east have access to better jobs, and money and investment coming into the region,' she says. 'And that matters – that really matters. People can feel it in their everyday lives.' Find out more about how Northumbria University is shaping futures and driving change
