Inuit Accuse U.S. Of Destroying Their Way of Life with Global Warming [View All]

I hope this is going to be groundbreaking in setting precedent. Could we see in the future, leaders of governments being sent to the World Court for crimes against humanity for allowing sea levels to rise causing islands to sink, or environmental devastation caused by war, or other preventable environmental catastrophes that cause casualties and the destruction of the way of life for the people who live there? It might just be one way to get progress. I think other developing countries should do the same to see this country and other countries like Australia who didn't sign Kyoto into joining the world community on this crisis and getting into the 21st Century before it is too late.

I heartily applaud Sheila Watt-Cloutier for bringing the plight of the Inuit people and the destruction of the Arctic to the global stage, and she fully deserves the Nobel nomination besides Al Gore as well and to win the prize, because her winning it as well would hopefully bring this truth to those who need to hear it and see it. This again is NOT a political issue but a moral one.

What our behavior is doing to affect the rest of the world is something we must morally address on all levels. I am happy to see this delegation going to Washington DC to hold all of them accountable for their indifference to the plight of other humans who are suffering because of their inaction. Next should be an African delegation, and one after the other coming to DC to hold them all accountable in front of the world for placing their own political agendas over the needs of all of us.
~~~~~

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0209-08.htm

February 9, 2007 by the Independent / UK

Inuit Accuse US of Destroying Their Way of Life with Global Warming
by Andrew Buncombe

A delegation of Inuit is to travel to Washington DC to provide first-hand testimony of how global warming is destroying their way of life and to accuse the Bush administration of undermining their human rights.The delegation, representing Inuit peoples from the US, Canada, Russia and Greenland, will argue that the US's energy policies and its position as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is having a devastating effect on their communities. Melting sea ice, rising seas and the impact on the animals they rely on for food threatens their existence.

The Inuit's efforts to force the US to act are part of an unprecedented attempt to link climate change to international human rights laws. They will argue before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (ICHR) that the US's behaviour puts it in breach of its obligations. "The impacts of climate change, caused by acts and omissions by the US, violate the Inuit's fundamental human rights protected by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other international instruments," the Inuit argued in a letter to the ICHR. "Because Inuit culture is inseparable from the condition of their physical surroundings, the widespread environmental upheaval resulting from climate change violates the Inuit's right to practice and enjoy the benefits of their culture."

Indigenous peoples from the Arctic have long argued that global warming was having a dramatic effect on their environment. In 2002, villagers in the remote Alaskan island community of Shishmaref voted to relocate to the mainland because rising sea levels threatened to overwhelm their community. Data has been gathered to support their claims and scientists have recorded how polar regions are the most vulnerable to climate change. The most recent international Arctic Climate Impact Assessment suggested global warming would see temperatures in the Arctic rise by 4-7C over the next 100 years - about twice the previous average estimated increase.

The delegation to Washington will be led by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the former chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference who was last week nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking yesterday from Iqaluit in Nunavut, Canada, she said: "For us in the Arctic our entire culture depends on the cold. The problem of climate change is what this is all about. At the same time we will be bringing in lawyers to talk about the link between climate change and human rights." The invitation for the Inuit to give testimony before the ICHR next month comes just days after the most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provided a dire assessment about the threat of climate change. In the Arctic, scientists have estimated that summer sea ice could completely disappear by 2040.

more at the link.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can read the ACIA here:

http://www.acia.uaf.edu/