On Thursday 2 March 2023, Ghent University and Strasbourg University are organizing a symposium entitled ”Translating Climate Science for the Human Rights Court Room: An Interdisciplinary Encounter Between Science and Law”. The event will discuss climate change litigation, including litigation before the European Court of Human Rights, from an interdisciplinary perspective. The speakers at the event will be, amongst others, Hellen Keller (former judge at the ECtHR), Ioannis Ktistakis (sitting judge at the ECtHR) and Natalia Kobylarz (Senior Lawyer at the Court).
Here is a brief description of the symposium:
”In light of the increasing pressure on international human rights adjudicative bodies to adjudicate on matters related to climate change, this symposium brings together eminent contributors from various disciplines to comment on the interpretation of climate science within the judicial setting. Acknowledging that judges will be tasked to engage in this complex, interdisciplinary exercise, the symposium seeks to mirror this complexity by bringing together scientists, historians and legal experts discussing comparative approaches to climate litigation, potential pitfalls, practical challenges as well as options for successful climate litigation before human rights adjudicative bodies. Underpinning this is the endeavour to provide a base line of understanding for various aspects of climate science: ranging from attribution questions concerning distinct emitters to quantifying ambition targets for individual states. The aim of this symposium is thus of two-fold nature: 1) knowledge sharing and providing an instructive part for legislators to use as guide posts when confronted with complex climate science; and 2) opening up an interactive forum between the different disciplines to facilitate a multi-layered, rich understanding of each other’s work.”
The program can be found here.
