Youth-Led National Climate Justice Solidarity Event Celebrates ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and Human Rights
Lalitpur, Nepal | July 25, 2025
The WYCJ Nepal Front organized a National Climate Justice Solidarity Event titled “Reflecting on Justice: A Celebration of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and Human Rights” at the United Nations House in Lalitpur. The event was held in recognition of this historic milestone and the significant global legal advancement in climate justice, following the issuance of the much anticipated Advisory Opinion (AO) on Climate Change and Human Rights by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 23rd July, 2025.This landmark opinion, requested through a United Nations General Assembly resolution in March 2023, now stands as a defining moment in shaping countries' legal responsibilities regarding climate change under international law.
In a historic momentum for climate justice, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) emphasized that states have a legal obligation to prevent environmental harm that could cause significant damage to other nations and to future generations. The Court further clarified that failure to act on climate change constitutes a breach of international obligations related to human rights, environmental protection, and intergenerational equity. This marks a transformative shift in the legal framing of the climate crisis from a primarily political or environmental issue to a matter of binding international legal duty.
At the heart of this global legal milestone is the youth-led initiative of the World’s Youth for Climate Justice (WYCJ) and the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC). In partnership with frontline nations like Vanuatu, these movements have mobilized young people and civil society across the globe to elevate the climate crisis to the world’s highest court. Together, they reframed climate change not merely as an environmental emergency, but as a profound issue of human rights and intergenerational justice.
In Nepal, this global movement found strong local resonance. Persistent advocacy, public engagement, and youth led lobbying led to a significant national achievement: Nepal formally submitted its written statement to the ICJ in August 2024, becoming part of the global coalition calling for clarity on states’ legal responsibilities in addressing climate change.
Opening the roundtable discussion reflecting on the Advisory Opinion, Prajwol Bickram Rana, Convener of the Asian Front of WYCJ, noted that the ICJ’s ruling is both a political and legal gamechanger. It opens new pathways for domestic climate litigation and redefines how nations like Nepal, disproportionately affected by climate impacts they did not cause, can approach climate justice. Having taken the fight from Nepal to the global courtroom, the focus must now return home: What does this mean for Nepal, and how should it act?
Central to this effort has been the critical role of Nepali youth, lawyers, advocates, experts, and public officials who pushed for Nepal’s engagement in this global process. Monisha Chaudhary, a member of the Global Communications Team at WYCJ, emphasized in her presentation that this participation, achieved through collective youth-led pressure and collaboration with legal experts, marked a first in Nepal's climate diplomacy history. It was the persistent advocacy from youths and legal professionals that ensured Nepal did not remain silent in a process that directly affects its future generations.
As the roundtable discussion opened, Binita Kathayat, Member of the House of Representatives, Federal Parliament of Nepal, spoke on a personal note about her experiences in Jumla, highlighting the region’s acute water scarcity and the heavy reliance on women, children, and the elderly in agriculture. She emphasized the urgent need to implement the ICJ Advisory Opinion through the relevant parliamentary committees and reaffirmed her commitment to take action via the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Cooperative, and Natural Resources. She also thanked the youth of WYCJ for taking bold initiative on a matter that, in her words, "should have been addressed by the government itself." Furthermore, she raised concerns about the level of seriousness with which political parties are addressing climate issues within their own internal structures, and pledged to draw attention to these concerns within her own party.
Organizers and campaigners, who worked on the frontlines, reflecting on the submission process, acknowledged that it was far from easy. Richa Shrestha , Member of WYCJ emphasized that the government should learn from this experience, one marked by bureaucratic delays and a lack of substantive content, as evidenced by the defiance of ICJ formalism and the need for three deadline extensions. In response, Kunjan Shah, Section Officer of Ministry of Foreign Affairs credited the success of the initiative to the leadership of the World’s Youth for Climate Justice, stating, “This was made possible only through the initiation of youths in Nepal”
As Former Justice of Supreme Court, Anand Mohan Bhattarai rightly noted, “this is only the beginning of a process,” that must be followed by operationalization and domestication of the AO into national frameworks. Kundan Raj Sharma, Human Rights Education Coordinator at Amnesty International Nepal stated that Nepal should reject loans taken to rebuild infrastructure damaged by climate change or push to transform them into ‘compensation.’ He urged Nepal to assert these claims at COP30, following the AO’s unanimous adoption by the UN General Assembly.
Prayash Adhikari, Senior Program Officer, Digo Bikas Institute, highlighted the concerning trend of Nepal’s uncritical acceptance of climate-related loans. For example, the so-called "colonisation reconstruction loan", a debt that Nepal continues to repay reflects how external financing mechanisms can reinforce unequal power dynamics rather than support genuine climate justice. This raises important questions about the terms and conditions of climate finance, especially when such mechanisms risk burdening vulnerable countries with long term debt instead of enabling sustainable, locally led solutions.
Adding to the reflection on the grassroots origins of the climate justice movement, Arnab Chaudhary, a member of Harin Nepal, mentioned the organic growth of the campaign from modest beginnings such as college workshops to its current presence on the global stage. This trajectory reflects the power of youth led advocacy and the significance of sustained, localized action. He emphasized that the Advisory Opinion (AO) now presents a crucial opportunity: it must be aligned with national legal frameworks to have real impact. With its strong moral and legal foundation, the AO places a new responsibility on young people to push for its effective domestication and ensure it translates into concrete national level commitments and reforms.
In response, Uday Raj Sapkota, former Law Secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA), urged youth to ground their advocacy in clarity and context. He emphasized the importance of identifying specific causes, while recognizing the need to balance sustainability with national development goals. He called for Nepal to ratify the BBNJ (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction) Agreement, diversify partnerships, delegate responsibilities strategically, and establish a dedicated climate ministry to prevent jurisdictional overlaps in the future.
This institutional perspective was echoed by Shreeram Subedi from Nagarik Daily, who pointed out that despite the proliferation of institutions, Nepal has yet to effectively mobilize the resources it already possesses. The call, therefore, is not only for new structures but for better governance and strategic coordination of existing mechanisms.
Shreya KC, Climate Justice Activist stated that the Advisory Opinion (AO) is a welcome development in the pursuit of climate justice, but its delayed arrival highlights an urgent need to move beyond celebration and focus on meaningful action. While it marks a positive step forward, the momentum must now translate into concrete legal and policy shifts. Shreya Sanjel, Section Officer of Supreme Court seconded this by highlighting that one persistent challenge in climate accountability both globally and in Nepal is the difficulty of establishing strong scientific attribution. This issue was evident in cases such as the Sagarmatha lawsuit, where courts struggled with quantifying damages and identifying the responsible parties. Although these complexities are not always explicitly stated in the judgments, in several instances, courts did manage to hold both corporate and state actors accountable. This reflects a gradual but significant shift in judicial approaches to climate responsibility, even in the face of scientific and evidentiary limitations.
Padma Rijal, Lecturer at Kathmandu University School of Law, highlighted a critical gap in climate litigation: the need to establish clear causal links between climate change and specific disasters. She noted that source attribution (identifying who is responsible) and impact attribution (proving the effects) are often treated as separate issues, weakening the overall strength of legal arguments. Strengthening national capacity to produce robust, science-based evidence is therefore essential for substantiating climate claims and enhancing the effectiveness of legal action.
Balkrishna Jammarkattel from UNICEF emphasized the importance of integrating the Advisory Opinion (AO) into Nepal’s legal and policy frameworks, particularly through the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This approach would ensure that the AO moves beyond symbolic value and becomes embedded in actionable national commitments.
Building on this, Roshani Giri, Legal Advisor to the Minister for Tourism, said that NDCs are no longer merely discretionary tools of the state, they are legal and policy instruments that youth can leverage to demand accountability and ambition. She acknowledged Nepal’s low emissions but cautioned against relying solely on a victim narrative. Instead, she called for greater ownership and proactive engagement in climate solutions, both domestically and on the international stage.
Marking the close of the roundtable discussions, Maheshwor Dhakal, Chief of the Climate Change Management Division at the Ministry of Forest and Environment, delivered the government’s response. Framing climate change not merely as a future threat but as a current and lived reality, he noted that the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Agreement is already a "hot" benchmark, stating the urgency for immediate action. He stressed that the real challenge now lies in translating the ICJ Advisory Opinion into concrete, context-specific action for Nepal.
Dhakal posed two key questions:
How do we apply the AO within the national context?
And how can we operationalize the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC)?
He called for a strategic study of how other countries are responding to the AO, cautioning against operating within a national echo chamber. Citing the IPCC’s stark observation that global emissions have surged fiftyfold since 2015, he emphasized the need for deeper discourse on both historical and emerging emitters. Turning to the youth in the room, Dhakal acknowledged their power and potential. With Nepal’s latest NDC submission completed, he encouraged young advocates to carry this momentum into provinces, local communities, and every space where climate justice must be realized.
The event concluded with powerful closing remarks from Shristi Gautam, Co-lead of WYCJ Nepal Front, who reflected on the collaborative spirit of the movement. She emphasized that when youth and government come together, transformative change is possible. Urging for more inclusive platforms, she called on the government to institutionalize youth participation in policymaking. “Let’s not wait for justice from courts alone,” she said. “Let’s co-create it every day, in every space. Whether you’re a policymaker, student, lawyer, or community member, we need you. We need each other.”
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