Arusha, Tanzania – May 2, 2025:
In a groundbreaking legal move for environmental and human rights advocacy across Africa, a coalition of civil society organizations—including the African Climate Platform, Resilient40, Natural Justice, and the Environmental Lawyer Collective for Africa—will submit a landmark petition to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights today. The petition, filed in collaboration with the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), requests an Advisory Opinion on the obligations of African states in addressing climate change through a human rights lens.
This marks the first time African civil society has leveraged the Court’s advisory jurisdiction to confront the climate crisis—a step that legal experts and climate advocates are calling a transformative milestone in African jurisprudence.
“Africa contributes minimally to global greenhouse gas emissions but is disproportionately suffering from the impacts of the climate crisis,” said Alfred Brownell, Lead Campaigner of the African Climate Platform. “This petition is a plea for justice—an effort to secure strong legal protections for communities already enduring extreme weather, food insecurity, and displacement. Africa’s poor must not pay the price for the lifestyle of historical emitters.”
The petition is anchored in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and seeks the Court’s interpretation of state obligations under key legal frameworks, including the Maputo Protocol, the Kampala Convention, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It addresses the legal responsibilities of African states in relation to the climate crisis and the protection of fundamental human rights such as life, health, housing, food, water, and a healthy environment.
Key issues presented include:
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States’ duty to protect vulnerable populations including Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and climate defenders;
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Legal frameworks for adaptation, loss and damage, and just transition;
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Accountability for multinational corporations and historical polluters;
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Decolonization of natural resource governance;
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Commitment to dignity and protection from reprisals for environmental defenders.
The petition follows a week-long convening in Arusha, where legal professionals, climate advocates, and human rights defenders from across Africa gathered to finalize the document. Their presence underscores continental solidarity and amplifies regional voices calling for justice.
Regional representatives voiced the urgency of the crisis:
“From Morocco’s empty dams to Algeria’s water protests and Libya’s Derna disaster, North Africa shows us this is not a future issue—it’s a current human rights emergency,” said Egyptian human rights defender Ahmad Abdallah.
Lucien Limacher of Natural Justice added: “Southern Africa is facing its worst drought in a century. Sixty-one million people are at risk, with women and girls bearing the worst of the crisis.”
CIVICUS’ Dr. Paul Mulindwa emphasized the threats facing land rights activists: “Defenders are being criminalized while standing between ecosystems and extractive industries.”
“In West Africa, collapsing cocoa yields and record heat are scorching lives and economies,” said Peter Quaqua of Liberia’s MRU CSO Platform.
From the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dorcas Sikujua Faida noted, “Floods, droughts, and armed conflict are converging into a triple crisis that is devastating fragile states.”
Egyptian activist Shahinaz Adel added: “Women and girls, often the backbone of their households, face cultural and climate-induced burdens without sufficient support.”
Inna Maria Shikongo, Namibian artist and influencer, declared, “It’s time to confront the injustices and inequalities youth and women face every day due to climate change.”
“Indigenous peoples who have contributed the least to emissions are being hardest hit,” said Agnes Kabujuni of Minority Rights Group. “Their traditional knowledge is vital to climate solutions.”
PALU’s Economic Governance Officer, June Cynthia Okelo, concluded: “Africa is not a dumping ground for pollution. Through this petition, we demand legal clarity and climate accountability. Environmental destruction is a human rights emergency.”
The submission of the petition is being widely hailed as a pivotal moment in Africa’s climate justice movement. Following the filing, a press briefing will be held at the African Court premises in Arusha to provide further insight into the initiative and the legal path ahead.
