Swiss Senior Women for Climate Protection Win Council of Europe Democracy Prize
Published
The initiative KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz has won the Council of Europe's Prize for Democratic Innovation. The Council of Europe is an international organisation based in Strasbourg that works to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The award shows that the group's work is also receiving considerable attention outside Switzerland.
The KlimaSeniorinnen are a group of older women in Switzerland. They want the state to do more to protect the climate. To achieve this, they use democratic means and the legal process. The women argue that climate change places a particular health burden on older people, for example during heatwaves. They therefore demand concrete and effective measures from the authorities.
An important success was a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in April 2024. The court decided that Switzerland, with its climate policy to date, had violated the rights of the applicants. The reason was that the state had not done enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The ruling is considered significant because it shows that climate protection can also be a matter of human rights.
The prize is a recognition of the women's commitment and of the importance of civic participation in a democracy. The initiative demonstrates how citizens can work together with courts and politicians to bring about social change. For Switzerland, the case is an example of how climate protection could be discussed legally and politically in the future.
Sources: www.coe.int
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