Press release | First published: here | 23 July 2025
Reacting to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) first Advisory Opinion clarifying the obligations of states in respect of climate change, Mandi Mudarikwa, Head of Strategic Litigation at Amnesty International, said:
“Today’s opinion is a landmark moment for climate justice and accountability. The ICJ made clear that the full enjoyment of human rights cannot be ensured without protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment. The world’s highest court stressed that states have a duty to act now, regulate the activities of private actors and cooperate to protect current and future generations and ecosystems from the worsening impacts of human induced climate change. This unprecedented opinion will bolster the hundreds of ongoing and upcoming climate litigation cases around the world, where people seek justice for the livelihoods that have been snatched away and the damage caused by major polluters.
Candy Ofime, Researcher and Legal Advisor in the Climate Justice Team at Amnesty International, said:
“In light of the polluters pay principle, the ICJ established that states’ failure to take action to protect the climate system— including through continued fossil fuel production, licencing or the provision of subsidies to fossil fuel companies—may constitute an internationally wrongful act. Despite big polluters’ suggestion to the contrary, the ICJ recognized that it is scientifically possible to determine each state’s contribution to the climate crisis, taking into account current and cumulative emissions. States, particularly historically high greenhouse gas emitters, must take responsibility and repair the climate harms they have caused and provide guarantees of non-repetition.”
Following in the footsteps of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the ICJ reaffirmed that climate change can lead to the forced displacement of people seeking safety, including across borders, emphasizing that in such circumstances, non-refoulement protections applies.
The ICJ recognized that climate change constitutes “an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet”. It stressed that a complete solution to this “life-daunting” and “self-inflicted” crisis does not only require contribution of all fields of knowledge but also “human will, at individual, social and political levels to change our current way of life to secure a future for ourselves and those who are yet to come.” Delivering a message to the climate justice movement worldwide, the ICJ expressed “hope that its conclusions would inform and guide social and political action to address the ongoing climate crisis.”
Amnesty International expresses the utmost gratitude to the Pacific Islands students whose innovative and inspiring global advocacy was critical in making today a reality.