Climate litigation before UN Human Rights Committee: Prospects and challenges for African litigants

Following the success of Daniel Billy v. Australia at the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), and its potential implications on rights-based climate litigation, this paper examines the possibility of similar litigation by African applicants at the HRC. The decision of the HRC in Daniel Billy v. Australia highlights the significance of human rights-based climate litigation and is a pointer to the potential prospects and challenges African litigants may face before the HRC. The case is significant as it represents the first instance in which victims of climate change were successful in invoking the provisions of the international human rights instruments before the HRC. The author observes that despite the increasing impacts of climate change on human rights in Africa, there has been a paucity of cases before domestic and regional courts, and none before international human rights bodies. In anticipation of climate litigation before the HRC, the article identifies the challenges and prospects African applicants may face before it. The article argues that African Applicants now have an additional avenue in the HRC to seek climate change-redress against African States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its First Optional Protocol.