Expert Exchange: International climate advisories – Opportunities for labour and just transition

This summer, international courts put out several significant advisory opinions clarifying the role of governments in the face of the climate emergency. These decisions reinforce what workers, unions and grassroots movements have long claimed—that climate change and the responses to it are human rights issues.  

The global labour movement has continuously advocated for the recognition of worker rights as fundamental human rights. The recent advisory opinions from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice, in addition to the Report of the Secretary-General to the United Nations Human Rights Council on just transition, lay out an important set of frameworks in international law that recognise the impacts of climate change on human rights.

These opinions and reports show an increasing recognition of workers in the international system, and offer important opportunities to advance a just transition that simultaneously addresses the climate crisis and enables the realisation of human rights, including labour rights. The discussion will be grounded in practical examples and analysis of how international negotiations and advisory opinions can impact the advancement of a just transition at the national level, including in Colombia and South Africa.  

In our latest Expert Exchange, labour and human rights experts will analyse what these decisions mean for workers and the labour movement, and the likelihood of a just transition worldwide. Participants will have the opportunity to explore policy approaches to advance a just transition that truly meets the needs of impacted workers and communities. 

Speakers:

Rina Kuusipalo, Human Rights Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 

Ruwan Subasinghe, Legal Director, International Transport Workers’ Federation 

Boitumelo Molete, Social Development Policy Coordinator, Congress of South African Trade Unions, South Africa 

Jeff Vogt, International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network 

Marely Cely, Director, Corporación Justicia y Libertad, Colombia 

Moderated by Jocelyn Soto Medallo, Climate Policy Specialist, Solidarity Center