{"id":118712,"date":"2025-07-24T13:07:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T13:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/our-contribution-as-friend-of-court-enriched-climate-verdict-kenya-on-icj\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T13:07:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T13:07:11","slug":"our-contribution-as-friend-of-court-enriched-climate-verdict-kenya-on-icj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/our-contribution-as-friend-of-court-enriched-climate-verdict-kenya-on-icj\/","title":{"rendered":"Our contribution as friend of court enriched climate verdict: Kenya on ICJ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 \u2014 Kenya has hailed its role in shaping the landmark advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on state obligations in addressing climate change, saying its submissions as <em>amicus curiae<\/em> (friend of the court) enriched the Court\u2019s conclusions.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing\u2019oei on Thursday said Kenya\u2019s legal team, led by Professor Phoebe Okowa, provided critical insights that helped the Court clarify the responsibilities of states under international law for climate change mitigation and adaptation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud that our submissions, ably prosecuted by a team led by Prof. Phoebe Okowa, edified the Court\u2019s views,\u201d PS Sing\u2019oei said.<\/p>\n<p>In its wide-ranging opinion, the UN\u2019s principal judicial organ reaffirmed that climate change is an existential threat \u201cunequivocally caused by human activities\u201d and ruled that states have obligations beyond treaty law \u2014 including under customary international law and human rights law \u2014 to prevent harm to the climate system.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Shot in the arm\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Sing\u2019oei hailed the verdict as a \u201cshot in the arm\u201d for the global quest for sustainable and legally grounded climate action, noting that it provides crucial legal clarity on issues such as due diligence in mitigation and adaptation, the impact of sea-level rise on statehood, and whether fossil fuel-related activities could constitute internationally wrongful acts.<\/p>\n<p>The Court emphasized that failures to take precautionary measures \u2014 such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or regulating fossil fuel activities \u2014 could trigger state responsibility, potentially requiring cessation of harmful practices, guarantees of non-repetition, and reparations.<\/p>\n<p>Though advisory and not legally binding, ICJ opinions carry significant moral and legal weight, shaping international norms and influencing state behavior.<\/p>\n<p>The case was the largest ever handled by the Court, involving 91 written submissions and participation from 97 states during oral proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>Sing\u2019oei reaffirmed Kenya\u2019s commitment to working with the international community to advance climate action and meet global mitigation targets.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 24 \u2014 Kenya has hailed its role in shaping the landmark advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on state obligations in addressing climate change, saying its submissions as amicus curiae (friend of the court) enriched the Court\u2019s conclusions. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing\u2019oei on Thursday said Kenya\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}