The Independent
Inuit accuse US of destroying their way of life with global warming
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 09 February 2007
A delegation of Inuit is to travel to Washington DC to provide first-hand testimony of how global warming is destroying their way of life and to accuse the Bush administration of undermining their human rights.
The delegation, representing Inuit peoples from the US, Canada, Russia and Greenland, will argue that the US's energy policies and its position as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is having a devastating effect on their communities. Melting sea ice, rising seas and the impact on the animals they rely on for food threatens their existence.
The Inuit's efforts to force the US to act are part of an unprecedented attempt to link climate change to international human rights laws. They will argue before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (ICHR) that the US's behaviour puts it in breach of its obligations. "The impacts of climate change, caused by acts and omissions by the US, violate the Inuit's fundamental human rights protected by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other international instruments," the Inuit argued in a letter to the ICHR. "Because Inuit culture is inseparable from the condition of their physical surroundings, the widespread environmental upheaval resulting from climate change violates the Inuit's right to practice and enjoy the benefits of their culture."
Indigenous peoples from the Arctic have long argued that global warming was having a dramatic effect on their environment. In 2002, villagers in the remote Alaskan island community of Shishmaref voted to relocate to the mainland because rising sea levels threatened to overwhelm their community. Data has been gathered to support their claims and scientists have recorded how polar regions are the most vulnerable to climate change. The most recent international Arctic Climate Impact Assessment suggested global warming would see temperatures in the Arctic rise by 4-7C over the next 100 years - about twice the previous average estimated increase.
The delegation to Washington will be led by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference who was last week nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking yesterday from Iqaluit in Nunavut, Canada, she said: "For us in the Arctic our entire culture depends on the cold. The problem of climate change is what this is all about. At the same time we will be bringing in lawyers to talk about the link between climate change and human rights."
The invitation for the Inuit to give testimony before the ICHR next month comes just days after the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provided a dire assessment about the threat of climate change. In the Arctic, scientists have estimated that summer sea ice could completely disappear by 2040.
Martin Wagner, of the California-based Earthjustice, said: "There can be no question that global warming is a serious threat to human rights in the Arctic and around the world. The ICHR plays an important role in interpreting and defending human rights, and we are encouraged that it has decided to consider the question of global warming."
The ICHR, an arm of the Organisation of American States, can issue findings, recommendations and rulings. It can also refer cases to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica, though the US has always made clear it does not consider itself bound by the court's rulings.
- Re: zt 格陵兰岛(续)The right to be coldposted on 02/12/2007
it is also said some small island countries in the pacific will disappear in the coming century.
china now is becoming the enemy of global warming with the car increasing.:( - Re: zt 格陵兰岛(续)The right to be coldposted on 02/12/2007
qinggang wrote:
it is also said some small island countries in the pacific will disappear in the coming century.
china now is becoming the enemy of global warming with the car increasing.:(
青冈又回来了,孩子生下来了吧?
黄金甲没看,也就没法聊了。这Global Warming,今天倒是感觉到了
。纽约象北京样的,雪下不来,下来也留不住。
唯一的安慰是省一点暖气费。
- posted on 02/13/2007
xw wrote:
青冈又回来了,孩子生下来了吧?
黄金甲没看,也就没法聊了。这Global Warming,今天倒是感觉到了
。纽约象北京样的,雪下不来,下来也留不住。
唯一的安慰是省一点暖气费。
好感动的,xw还惦记着我呢。
最近也来的,就是呆得时间越长,越不敢说话了。:)
宝贝还要再等一个月,不过小家伙每天在肚子里运动得很厉害,好像总想要先出来看看这肮脏的世界。这两天我又在想,其实本不该要这还孩子的,原来一直打算dink的,结果有那么几天犹犹豫豫,就弄出了小孩来。
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