Landmark climate change case won in EU human rights court

In what could prove to be a major breakthrough for civil efforts against climate change, a group of senior Swiss women have won a case in the EU Court of Human Rights affirming that human-exacerbated heatwaves are putting their lives at risk.

Thred Media
3 min readApr 13, 2024

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The very first case ever registered at the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg has concluded with a landmark civil victory.

Late last month, a group of senior Swiss women with some 2,500 members brought forth a case stating that ‘woefully inadequate’ action from their government is putting their lives at risk.

Specifically, the Senior Women for Climate Protection bemoaned lax measures to combat rising temperatures and heatwaves linked to human-induced GHG emissions.

Just 11 days after the case was initially heard, the panel of 17 judges announced that the ambitious cohort had won. Upon leaving the building, the jubilant members were showered with applause and bubbles by 100+ supporters.

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