“Pushing a human rights-based strategy to local weather turn into the background” – is that clear?

Essay by Eric Worrall

“Australia needs a national human rights law to address the human rights impacts of climate change… but this will only be successful if policymakers listen to… queer people.”

Queering a person Rights-based approach for Climate change in Australia

Ryan Vowles

The Australian government should implement a national human rights framework including a queer human rights law.

Australia needs a national human rights law to address the human rights impacts of climate change and hold the state accountable for its contributions. However, this will only be successful if policymakers listen to the lived experiences of queer people and all other people considered non-human under international human rights law. A human rights law created in collaboration with stakeholders who have historically been excluded or subjugated by legal institutions would be a radical departure from Australia’s current policy approach, but that is exactly what is needed for climate justice. This recommendation is supported by four core principles: participatory policy-making, destabilization of dominant knowledge systems, intersectionality and urgent climate action.

Position statement

Ryan Vowles (she/her) was born on the stolen land of the Awabakal people, a descendant of British settlers. They recently completed their Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Development Studies at the University of Newcastle and are aware of how these disciplines are used as tools of colonization against First Nations peoples. Ryan is also aware of the ways in which settler colonialism and capitalist development contribute to climate change in Australia. …Furthermore, homophobia and transphobia have been present in Ryan’s life as a queer person in Australia since time immemorial. They recognize that these same systems of oppression have also given them undeserved privileges, which has reduced their own vulnerability to climate harm. From this perspective, Ryan is interested in using his privilege to challenge harmful assumptions and find practical solutions. Through a deep understanding of how her own liberation is intertwined with every other freedom struggle, Ryan is committed to the ongoing process of decolonizing her research so that her work is more intersectional. Crucially, Ryan recognizes that oppression takes many different forms. At times, this account may be limited by the author’s incomplete understanding of the diversity of queer knowledge and lived experiences.

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One option for legal reform is to give legal rights to the environment itself. Natural rights or environmental rights recognize that ecosystems are not exclusively owned by humans. Rather, a natural rights approach assumes that ecosystems are rights holders with intrinsic value, regardless of their relationship to humans.

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Read more: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research/centre/law-and-social-justice/research/social-justice-student-projects/student-projects/queering-a-human-rights-based-approach-to-climate-change-in-australia

Ryan Vowles, whose report can be found on the University of Newcastle website, identifies himself as a first year law student at the University of Newcastle.

What conclusions can we draw from this report? If you send your children to Newcastle University, there is a chance that if they ever return to you they will talk about their liberation and use words like “intersectionality” while accusing you of “unearned privilege” and belonging to the oppressive capitalist system. They may also try to explain in detail why a native fruit tree growing in the wild should have comparable rights to a human.

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