Sierra Leone presented legal arguments before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, Germany concerning the request for an advisory opinion submitted by a group of vulnerable small island countries.
The request asks the UN’s Law of the Sea Court to clarify legal obligations of States under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to prevent, reduce and control greenhouse gas emissions, a form of pollution to the marine environment as well as to protect and preserve the marine environment in relation to the impacts of climate change.
An advisory opinion issued by the Tribunal in this regard would be the first time an international judicial body determines that States have binding legal obligations to tackle climate change and its impacts. Sierra Leone is a party to the Convention.
Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Justice, Alpha Sesay said: “Climate emergency poses the greatest threat to our planet and to this generation, yet, there is simply no equity when it comes to managing its effects.
“What we put in climate related mitigation is food out of the mouths of our children. What we put in climate related mitigation is money we do not use to educate our children. What we put in climate related mitigation is money we do not use to nurse our sick children back to good health”.
The deputy minister explained further that. “The polluters, who have produced most of the greenhouse gas emissions that got us where we are today, reap the benefits while we the non-polluters pay, and continue to pay, the price. The polluters must pay”.
Professor Charles C. Jalloh, who is a Sierra Leonean international lawyer and member of the UN Law Commission, led the submission for Sierra Leone.
He explained that: “Meaningful progress to combat climate change, for the sake of all of humanity, requires strong international cooperation among States.
And strong cooperation in turn requires strong international law rules as well as equitable solutions to address the issue of climate change.” Despite being one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, Sierra Leone is among the top 10% of the most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts.
Ocean warming and sea-level rise, which are caused by excess greenhouse gas emissions, particularly affect low-lying coastal States like Sierra Leone.
They lead to extreme weather events, loss of coastal ecosystems, forced displacement of populations inhabiting islands and coastal areas, damage to the fishery industry, and food insecurity.
If no action is taken, a total of 26.4 square kilometers of the Sierra Leonean coastline is estimated to be lost to the sea by 2050.
The Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, led by its Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Dr. Michael Imran Kanu, has provided the needed leadership for Sierra Leone’s participation in these historic proceedings.
The legal team representing Sierra Leone include Professor Charles Jalloh of Florida International University, Professor Phoebe Okowa of Queen Mary University London, Professor Dire Tladi of the University of Pretoria, and partners, Christina Hioureas and Andrew Loewenstein of Foley Hoag LLP based in New York. Sierra Leone was also assisted by the Open Society Justice Initiative and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
