Commentators:

Professors Jonas Ebbesson and Petra Herzfeld Olsson, both at Stockholm University

Context:

In March 2023, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) made a request for an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the obligations of states in respect of climate change. The UNGA debate which preceded the resolution mentioned “just transition”, but not expressly the situation in the world of work. Before the European Court of Human Rights, human rights strategic litigation seeks to address the concerns of children and other citizens relating to climate change (see for example the pending cases Duarte Agostinho and KlimaSeniorinnen) in the context of a failure to act. However, this option has yet to be pursued by workers and their representatives. This paper interrogates the potential for such claims to be made by and for labour, with reference to the entitlement to a safe and healthy (working) environment, the potential for collective claims under the European Convention on Human Rights, issues of just transitions and how they might be represented also at the ICJ.

Tonia Novitz:

Professor Tonia Novitz.

Tonia Novitz is Professor of Labour Law at the University of Bristol Law School in the UK. A graduate of the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand) and Balliol College (Oxford, UK), she has held fellowships at the International Institute for Labour Studies (Geneva), the European University Institute (Florence), the University of Melbourne and the University of Auckland. From 2019 - 2023, she was chair of the steering committee of the international Labour Law Research Network (LLRN).

She is currently a UK representative on the advisory board of International Lawyers Assisting Workers (ILAW), and a Vice President of the UK Institute of Employment Rights. She was a founding co-director of the Bristol Centre for Law at Work. Her research interests encompass collective labour rights, international and EU trade, sustainability and migration. Her publications have been cited in the Supreme Court of Canada and the UK Supreme Court. Recently, she has written on the ways in which sustainable development chapters in EU free trade agreements may be applied and enforced.

Registration:

By email to ebba.kardvik@juridicum.su.se no later than 31 January 2024.

Much welcome!
Kerstin Ahlberg, Jonas Ebbesson and Petra Herzfeld Olsson