Published on 13 December 2024 in Client Alerts, News

Volterra Fietta client Barbados appears before the International Court of Justice for the first time in historic public hearing on the climate crisis

On 2 December 2024, representatives and legal counsel of Barbados made oral submissions to the International Court of Justice (the “Court”) in the climate change advisory proceedings (the “Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change Case”). 

This is the first time that Barbados has appeared in a hearing before the Court, highlighting the significance of the climate crisis to the continued existence and economic viability of Barbados.

Barbados’s central role in the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change Case

On 29 March 2023, Barbados co-sponsored a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly requesting that the Court provide an advisory opinion on (a) the obligations of States under international law in respect of climate change; and (b) the legal consequences if a State causes significant harm to the climate system or any part of the environment.  The resolution was adopted unanimously.

Barbados and 82 other States made written submissions to the Court.  Barbados’s written submissions of 22 March 2024 and 15 August 2024 can be accessed online.  They contain over 1,000 citations, including 84 scientific papers, 54 academic articles and 505 legal authorities.  Volterra Fietta’s client alert ‘Barbados files written statement in ground-breaking International Court of Justice advisory proceedings on climate change’ summarises Barbados’s written submissions.

Barbados’s oral submissions to the Court

Barbados made its oral submissions on the first day of the Court’s hearing, on 2 December 2024.

The Honourable Kerrie D Symmonds, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados opened Barbados’s oral submissions (video available here).  He highlighted that the climate crisis is an “imminent matter of life and death” for the Barbadian people.  He discussed the destructive environmental consequences of climate change, such as 2024’s Hurricane Beryl’s destruction of 90% of its fishing industry.  He noted that Barbados, like other small island States, faces economic consequences and is “in grave danger of becoming uninsurable” as well as “uninvestable”.

Ambassador François Jackman, Representative of Barbados and Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, then discussed the disappointing outcomes of the recently concluded COP 29 (video available here).  He underlined the “massive gaps between promise and delivery” and Barbados’s proposed solutions to bridge financing gaps through, for example, its Bridgetown Initiative 3.0.

Robert G Volterra, Co-Representative of Barbados, then began Barbados’s submission on law, pleading first in English and then in French (video available here).  He explained that many States agree that the “UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement are not exhaustive statements of relevant international law” on climate change.  He also stated that the obligation to provide redress for climate change harms is an obligation of strict liability and that ancient laws of mankind confirm this concept of strict liability.  

Gunjan Sharma closed out Barbados’s submissions (video available here).  He argued that the obligation to provide redress for climate change harms applies even though climate change is far-reaching and that many States have contributed to it.  In addition, he explained that, contrary to the submissions of other States in the proceedings, States knew about climate change long before 1990.  And now those States “are asking this Court to forget what they really did and what they really knew – and when”.

Press and commentary about Barbados’s oral submissions: cheering in the spill-over observer room

There was so much interest in the hearing from other States, the press and the public that the Court limited entry into the courtroom to delegations only.  To satisfy demand to witness the proceedings, a number of spill-over rooms were set up with the oral pleadings being shown livestream.  After the Barbados team finished its submissions, the audience in one such spill-over room rose to its feet cheering them on with a standing ovation.

Commenting on Barbados’s submissions, the Environmental Justice Senior Lead of the Department of Energy Resources of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States of America stated: “Justice requires truth.  Truth is required to arrive at viable, systemic transformation.  Thank you Barbados!”.  The Center for International Environmental Law described Barbados’s submissions as “legally sound and powerful”.  Barbados’s submissions to the Court were also widely reported, including by the Caribbean News Service and Barbados Today.

Ambassador François Jackman highlighted the importance of the proceedings for Barbados, being a matter of “justice”.  As The Honourable Kerrie D Symmonds, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados told the Court, the “serene picture of Barbados” now “stands to be obliterated, if we do not cease forms of global conduct which will leave our island uninsurable, uninvestable and, ultimately, uninhabitable”.  

Photographs: UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Frank van Beek. Courtesy of the ICJ.

For further information, please contact info@volterrafietta.com.