Getting Started

1. Building a Team: How? Gather a small and determined group of people who are excited about working on this initiative. Alternatively, if there is a youth-group in your community already working on climate change issues, or a group working on human rights, for example a youth team from Amnesty International, contact them and see if they have the time to meet you. If you have a group of friends who are interested in climate action and human rights, or you have found a group of people who will soon become your friends - congratulations. You have already taken a massive step. 

2. Getting others involved: Here are some ideas on how to get more people involved, 350.org calls this ‘base-building’. We have also compiled a list here with ideas for you on how you can reach more young people to get involved. (It works for some groups to start with a small core team, and once certain structures have been established, they invite and recruit more people to join them.) 

3. Team Building: Here are ideas for team-building activities, story-telling activities, and other group activities that are good to do in the beginning

4. How can you best work together in a team? It is important that everyone feels safe, respected and empowered in the space you are creating to support the campaign. Consider barriers for people to join your team. And think about how you can minimize these.

• For you as a facilitator ‘Member Empowerment’ is very important. An empowering culture and working style allows members to enjoy their work more, take initiative, come up with creative ideas and even work more efficiently. You can find more on this: here.

• It is important that you decide on how you will work together as a team.  Decide on: meeting time and place (if online, then the platform). 

• Meeting Structure and Facilitation: find more resources here.  Find resources for online-facilitation here. 

Implementing Your Plan

1. Burn brightly, and do not burn out. Take care of yourself and your group. 

2. There are various different main objectives we focus on during our work. They are:

   • Connecting the dots: Human Rights and Climate Change are interlinked. 

     • Collect stories! As part of this, we have launched an ‘Evidence Collection’-Campaign. This campaign collects stories of how people’s human rights are already affected by the climate crisis. There are many climate witnesses out there, and several youth-led projects working on amplifying those voices. With our ‘Evidence Collection’ we are providing the Court with material evidence difficult to ignore during the deliberation phase of the Advisory Opinion.

       If you have a story to tell or know someone with a story about how their life was affected by the climate crisis, please nominate them (or yourself) by sending a name and contact details to worldyouthforclimatejustice@gmail.com and we will get in touch as soon as possible. You can also nominate multiple people at once (sometimes our stories are not individual stories). In the meantime keep an eye on the stories we share on Instagram!

     • Make your voice heard! We must make sure that governments are taking a rights-centered approach to climate action. The polar bear is no longer the poster child-victim of the climate crisis. It is, and always has been humans as well. We must ensure that every adult knows that not addressing human rights in their mitigation and adaptation plans is a violation of international law! Therefore, read about how a changing climate is affecting your rights, write a blog-post, include human rights in your next climate strike poster, record a movie, tell friends and your opponents, and your elected representative - that you demand that your country recognizes the intrinsic connection between climate change and human rights and vote in favour of the resolution to request an Advisory Opinion.

     • Educate your peers! Organising lectures in your school or university, having a panel discussion, hosting a short course, these are all great ways to get the discussion going about the impact of climate change on human rights. Take a look at this example.

   • Grow a network of support! We need as many people out there to support the request for an Advisory Opinion on Human Rights and Climate Change as we can. That will make it difficult for states to ignore the youth-led call for climate justice and intergenerational equity. 

     • There are so many young people out there already who protest, plant trees, strike and march on Fridays, advocate for more ambitious climate policies, who pick up litter in their communities, are actively involved as UNICEF Youth ambassadors or with a local Amnesty International Groups. Reach out to those local groups and ask them to become a Friend of the Initiative. Find out more on the process of becoming a Friend of the Initiative here. Click here for a template email, and click here for the Memorandum of Understanding. 

       Please reach out to your local or regional member of the WYCJ Core Group for more assistance when sending our Friend of the Initiative invites.

     • Recruiting other young people is the easy one. Now, let's take the next step. Decision-makers often have a group of people who advise them on a variety of matters. The group consists of experts from a variety of fields; economics, law, ecology, education, social policy etc. Therefore, if we have a strong foundation of supporting allies, we are sending a strong message to decision-makers. Many high-profile individuals, and institutions have already signalled their support to the campaign. Some institutions or individuals might not have the capacity to be actively campaigning for us. But that is not a problem, a letter of endorsement from a high profile person, a social media statement from an influential human rights body, a short video message from a climate science research institute can be very beneficial for the campaign.

• We need to put pressure on states. Depending on where you live, there are many different ways to build political pressure, reach decision-makers and influence national conversations leading to policy changes. You are best situated to make the call on what is most strategic and effective in your community. Our goal is that the global community stands behind Vanuatu at the United Nations General Assembly. 

  Here are some ideas of how to do this: 

  1. All parliaments have working groups or committees on Human Rights, many also have separate groups or platforms for climate change and the environment. Find out who sits in those committees. Is there someone representing your town or city at the table already, who might be easier to approach? Does the Committee hear or consult outside experts? Have they received young people on climate matters before? 

  2. Contact your local representatives, convince them to support the ICJAO and then together march on to the capital. It will be easier to reach the next level, for example the more influential the minister of foreign affairs if you are not alone. 

  3. Who are the local climate change or human rights (or ideally climate change AND human rights) champions in your community? Have these champions already spoken up about climate justice?. 

  4. PISFCC (Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change) have reached out to the Pacific Island Forum (PIF), and managed to effectively reach all Pacific Island states at once. Their goal was for the PIF to reach an agreement as a regional coalition to support the ICJAO as it was in all of their best interest. Read more about PISFCC at the Pacific Island Forum here. This approach might also work in your region; the African Union and the European Union might be places worth trying this approach. It not only amplifies your voices in incredible ways and allows you to reach many more states, but it also sends an incredibly strong message to the world that an entire region has understood the urgency of the matter and follow the global youth on their journey to the ICJ. 

• Do you have other ideas for actions? Go Ahead. The more creative, the better. There are so many ways to convince states to support the Advisory Opinion - any and/or all of them are welcomed and appreciated. Feel free to always get in contact with us, to see how we can support you and your idea.