In a ground-breaking decision, the Human Rights Committee (the Committee) has found that a State’s failure to adequately protect its nationals against the adverse impacts of climate change breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR). The State owed the affected indigenous people compensation for the breach. The Committee’s decision, in Daniel Billy and others v Australia (or the Torres Strait Islanders’ Case), heralds a new era for State responsibility and the role of human rights law in climate change disputes.

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