THE TRIBUNE
Monday, December 16, 2024, PAGE 21
AMBASSADOR Cheryl Bazard at the International Court of Justice.
Ambassador puts case for climate change action IN AN address to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on December 13, Cheryl Bazard KC, Ambassador of The Bahamas to Belgium and the European Union, called for stronger accountability from major polluters and emphasised the urgent need for global action to combat climate change. Representing the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) in her capacity as Chair of its Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Forum, Ambassador Bazard addressed the ICJ during its historic hearing on the “Obligation of States in Respect of Climate Change” on the final day of the hearings at the Peace Palace in
The Hague. Ambassador Bazard was joined by Assistant Secretary General of the OACPS Cristelle Pratt, Professor Pierre-Marie Dupuy and Brenda Reson Sapuro, a young Kenyan environmental lawyer and African Front coordinator for the World’s Youth for Climate Justice (WYCJ). During her presentation, she sought to dismantle several key arguments presented by major polluting nations seeking to evade responsibility for climaterelated harm. Her remarks reinforced the importance of the obligation of prevention under international law and underscored the accountability of states for the environmental harm caused
both within and beyond national borders. “The arguments made by major polluter states are profoundly flawed and misleading. They effectively seek to prevent the court from discharging its mandate in these proceedings,” she said. She said the prevention principle, enshrined in international legal instruments, applies directly to climate change, contrary to claims by some major emitters. She also underscored that responsibility for climate harm extends beyond the entry into force of modern climate treaties like the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement, dating back to well- established obligations from the 1960s onward.