CHR-NI-2016-0001 Statement of Resource Person, Dr Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh 4 rights principle in dubio pro libertate et dignitate. In the face of climate change, it is important to note that States—especially developing States—are unlikely to be able to provide adequate and effective remedies to all victims of climate change. It is therefore crucial to recognise the role of oil, gas, coal and cement companies that have contributed most to anthropogenic climate change and its adverse effects. 22 Extending accountability for human rights violations to private persons or entities is in line with well-established human rights law. 23 The remainder of this statement considers how changes in the domestic laws of the Philippines could enhance victims’ access to legal redress from those private actors that have contributed most to anthropogenic climate change and its adverse effects. II. Climate Compensation Act One particularly promising way in which States can give effect to the right to a remedy in the context of climate change is through a Climate Compensation Act. The purpose and form of a Climate Compensation Act is canvassed in detail in a report co-authored by Mr. Andrew Gage and myself titled Taking Climate Justice into our own Hands: A Model Climate Compensation Act (December 2015). A copy of this report, which includes a draft Model Climate Compensation Act, is appended to this statement. To inform the deliberations of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights regarding the potential utility of a Climate Compensation Act in the Philippines, a summary of that report is included in this part. a. The national need for a Climate Compensation Act A Climate Compensation Act would make clear the legal consequences for the failure on the part of major fossil fuel polluters to reduce greenhouse gases. Fossil fuel companies have for some years now knowingly caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and billions of dollars’ worth of damages to individuals, communities and governments, with massive and detrimental consequences for the enjoyment of human rights. By establishing the legal rules associated with these consequences, the Act aims to provide an avenue for citizens and/or governments to hold global fossil fuel companies accountable for the harm that their products have caused or are causing through their own courts and tribunals. Such an Act would send a powerful message to fossil fuel corporations around the world by countering the assumption that corporations can continue to profit from greenhouse gas emissions—while shifting the costs to local communities. The Model Climate Change Compensation Act, depending on one’s interpretation of the law, either clarifies the law related to climate change litigation or alters the law to make climate litigation possible. In some countries, existing laws and legal principles may be sufficient to claim compensation for climate change damages. A Climate Compensation Act however would enable such claims to be resolved more 22 23 B Ekwurzel and others, ‘The Rise in Global Athmospheric CO2, Surface Temperature, and Sea Level from Emissions traced to Major Carbon Producers’ (2017) 144(4) Climatic Change 579. See eg General Comment No. 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant (29 March 2004) UN Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev1/Add 13, UNHRC, para 8; Annakkarage Suranjini Sadamali Pathmini Peiris v Sri Lanka (2011) UNHRC Communication No 1862/2009, UN Doc CCPR/C/103/D/1862, para 7.2; Velásquez Radríguez v Honduras IACtHR Series C no 4 (1988); 95 ILR 232.