March 2026 | Amicus Brief to African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights Advisory Opinion on States Obligations in Respect of Climate Change

African Futures Lab, in partnership with the Center for International Environmental Law (external link), submitted a contribution to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (external link) regarding its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States with Respect to the Climate Change Crisis. This legal milestone is expected to clarify the duties of African states during the climate emergency by grounding human rights in the specificities of the African Charter. We provide a definitive framework for state conduct that prioritizes the protection of vulnerable populations while requiring a fundamental shift in global legal responsibility.

Our contribution emphasizes the transformative right to reparation, framing the current climate crisis as a manifest extension of the colonial continuum. We advocate for structural remedies that address historical extraction and systemic gaps through rigorous legal accountability. Through this brief, we hope the Court will seize the opportunity to clarify that African states have a proactive duty to pursue reparations externally, holding global polluters and corporate actors accountable for their role in planetary harm. 

In May 2025, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights was asked African civil society, led by the Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU) (external link), to clarify the obligations of African states in relation to the climate crisis. This request follows a series of climate-related advisory opinions from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which consolidate an emerging body of judicial guidance. The request (external link), applies existing human rights law to climate change in place of creating new law. The opinion will define requirements for African States to prevent climate harm, protect human rights, and remedy climate impacts. 

1. The African Court should clarify State obligations to strengthen emerging international standards as clarified by other international courts and tribunals. This includes applying established human rights law to the climate crisis while defining requirements to prevent harm and protect rights.
2. Reparations include and go beyond financial compensation to encompass structural remedy and accountability. The Court should clarify that African states possess both an active obligation of conduct to provide domestic remedies and to pursue these reparations from responsible international actors, including major emitting states and corporations.
3. States must ensure effective remediation of climate harm and advance the right to reparation. This duty rests on human rights obligations and the law of State responsibility, requiring full reparation for wrongful conduct.
4. Interpretation of remediation must account for Africa’s social, political, and historical context. Contemporary climate harm reflects structural and historical drivers, specifically colonial legacies on the African continent. Remediation obligations must respond to both the harm and its historical context.
5. Historical contributions and ongoing conduct shape remediation obligations. Responsibility remains concrete, attaching to identifiable State and corporate actors.
6. Human rights law, State responsibility, and international liability govern climate remediation. These complementary regimes operate together to define the scope of reparations.
7. States must ensure the full spectrum of remedies, including access to justice for affected communities, monetary relief, and structural solutions. Remedy remains both corrective and transformative.
8. Right to an effective remedy requires States to mobilize all available resources to address climate harm. Action includes domestic measures and extends to strategic engagement beyond national borders.
9. Effective remediation requires polluters to cease harmful conduct and remain accountable. Complete remediation for affected populations depends on meaningful redress and rigorous enforcement.