A win for Vanuatu and the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change

The concerns of young people in the Pacific about climate change has been passed at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) through the Vanuatu government called on the United Nations to pass a resolution to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change and human rights. The motion, sponsored by more than 130 countries, was greeted with cheers when passed in the UN General Assembly. Vanuatu Prime Minister, Ishmael Kalsakau says the adoption of the Vanuatu’s Climate Justice Resolution by the UN General Assembly is a win for the rule of law and for acting with ambition to address the planetary climate crisis. “I celebrate today with the people of Vanuatu, who are still reeling from the devastation from two back-to-back cyclones this month, caused by the fossil fuels and greenhouse emissions that they are not responsible for. To my people, today shows us that the world stands with Vanuatu” Kalsakau said. Climate Campaigner, Solomon Yeo earlier said that the meeting by the UN General Assembly in March is a very crucial one especially for PISFCC. ‘Its really a state driven process, so you need the states to support this. But of course, the issue, somebody has to bring it up and no one was there except for us, the law students at USP. And so from the end, we wrote to our governments from the Pacific and we also approached the government of Vanuatu and had a talk with them about the proposal that we had and we convinced them to take it up for us’. Vanuatu is one of the worst-affected nations affected by the climate crisis. Earlier last month, the country was hit by two Category four tropical cyclones in less than five days. The cost of the natural hazards is estimated to cost Vanuatu more than half of its annual GDP. “Today we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions,” Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau said.