A group of Swiss women over 64 has filed a lawsuit against Switzerland with Europe’s top human rights court, saying the country has violated their rights by failing to curb emissions.
The women in the case, the first of its kind to be heard at the European Court for Human Rights, say that soaring temperatures and heat waves are threatening them with health ailments in their final decades, Times reports
One recent study found that last summer’s heat waves killed more than 61,000 people across Europe, most of them women over 80.
The case is among a growing number of lawsuits around the world using human rights grounds to argue that governments are shirking their obligations, as temperatures and sea levels rise, to ensure the safety and security of citizens.
This year’ssea ice in Antarctica has reached record lows, with potentially global consequences.
