‘The People vs Arctic Oil’: Freedom fighters attack Norway in ECHR | Climate Change Issues

Climate change activists have filed a lawsuit against Oslo over Arctic oil drilling plans.

Norwegian human rights activists have asked the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to rule on Norway’s decision to drill in the Arctic oil field, activists said on Tuesday, saying the country’s analysis was robbing young people of their future.

The case, of six people between the ages of 20 and 27 as well as Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth, is part of a worldwide branch where plaintiffs are going to court to file a lawsuit to end climate change.

In the Netherlands, a court recently ordered Shell to reduce its smoke bill in a lawsuit filed by citizens alleging that the Anglo-Dutch oil company violated their human rights.

“Environmentalists say that by allowing drilling through oil crisis, Norway has violated human rights,” said activists in response to their appeal to the ECHR.

The announcement came as state-owned oil company Equinor, on Tuesday announced it would step up its efforts to increase renewable energy and continue to raise oil for the next five years.

Norway’s oil and energy ministry has refused to comment on the case.

Three courts in Norway have already ruled in favor of the government, however, including a Supreme Court ruling last December, thereby dealing with domestic disputes.

Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen, 23, is one of the rights activists who have applied to the ECHR for a Norwegian case.

Lasse Eriksen Bjoern, 24, a white Muslim activist in northern Norway, said climate change was already a threat to life.

“The Asami culture is closely linked to the use of the environment, and fish are essential… What threatens our oceans is a threat to our people,” he said.

The rules of the ECHR require that applicants be directly involved with the victims, while its decisions are in line with the countries concerned.

The court should now decide whether the case, filed by human rights activists as “People vs. Arctic Oil”, is legal.

Norway, which produces oil and gas in western Europe every day to produce about 4 million barrels of oil-equivalent oil, said last week it planned to continue existing oil prices.