The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will examine a request to consider whether climate change due to environmentally unfriendly practices constitutes a human rights violation.
Only two months ago, the organization had rejected a petition filed by Sheila Watt-Cloutier and 65 other Inuit in 2005. The U.S.’s failure to sign or non-compliance with international treaties to cut greenhouse gases was at the heart of the petition.
But the Commission will take another look at the issue during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 1.
The Inuit and two lobby groups – The Centre for International Environmental Law and Earth Justice – will have an hour to convince the commission that blatant disregard for greenhouse gas emission levels violates the human rights of the Inuit and threatens their way of life.
