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Uricchio v. Italy and 31 other States - decision

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On March 3, 2021, an Italian youth filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against 32 countries. The applicant is an 18-year-old woman living in a small town in southern Italy (Matera) which is prone to floods. She claims to suffer from allergies (skin rash) and psychological distress due to global warming (states of anxiety caused by the inability to go out during the day and, more generally, by concerns about the future and the possibility of continuing to live there due to global warming), which is to be manifested in extraordinarily high temperatures in summer and severe flooding. She lives in a flood zone (Matera). 

Relying on Articles 2, 8, 13 and 14, she complains that the 32 States parties to the Convention which are also parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement (including Turkey, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Norway and France) have not taken sufficient measures to implement the latter. She complains about a violation: (i) of the positive obligations of States under Articles 2 and 8 to protect the environment; (ii) of Article 14, since the harmful effects of global warming would hit the younger generations harder; (iii) of Article 13, alleging that the domestic remedies would not be effective since she would be forced to lodge a complaint in the courts of 32 States, a burden which it would be impossible for her to bear because of her young age and limited financial resources. The case is similar to Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Other States. 

The case is brought against Member States of the EU (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden) as well as Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The complainant alleges that the respondents have fallen short of their human rights obligations by failing to agree to emissions reductions that will keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as envisioned by the Paris Agreement. 

The Court unanimously ruled the case inadmissible in its decision of 7 May 2025. Confirming its previously established case law from the Duarte Agostinho case, the Court held that the applicant was under Italy's territorial jurisdiction and that there was no basis to find that the other respondent states had exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction. It underlined that the applicant did not submit any specific arguments on the subject of extraterritorial jurisdiction. The complaint against all states other than Italy was therefore declared inadmissible based on lack of jurisdiction. 

With respect to the complaint against Italy, the Court reiterated the relevant principles on victim status in the climate-change context established in the Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz case, which had established a high threshold for victim status. As the applicant had not submitted any medical documentation, the Court could not conclude whether she was subject to a high intensity of exposure to the adverse effects of climate change or whether there had been a pressing need to ensure her individual protection from the harm which the effects of climate change may have had on the enjoyment of her human rights. Therefore, the applicant's complaint under Article 8 of the Convention was declared inadmissible as being incompatible ratione personae with the provisions of the Convention. Her complaint under Article 2 was declared inadmissible for the same reason due to a lack of substantiation. In relation to the applicant's other complaints, the Court held that these complaints either did not meet the admissibility criteria or did not disclose any appearance of a violation of the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Convention or the Protocols thereto.

Uricchio v. Italy and 31 other States

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