Sofia Oliveira and André Oliveira
Young people | Plaintiffs for the future
Sofia and André are two siblings, 18 and 15 years old, who, from a very early age, showed great concern about the signs of climate and ecological crisis. In 2017, when they were only 12 and 9 years old, they watched, as we all did in Portugal, the tragedy of the brutal fires of July and October, which destroyed lives, homes, and natural and historical heritage, such as the dense and ancient Leiria pine forest. Then an alarm sounded that impelled them to want to act… although they did not know how!
Luckily, they got to know GLAN – Global Legal Action Network, an NGO that supports the creation of legal cases related to the defence of human rights all over the world. And it was through the support of GLAN that, together with four other young people, they created the case #Youth4ClimateJustice. The case was developed and, in September 2020, a complaint was filed against 33 European governments in the European Court of Human Rights, for considering that they are not doing enough to ensure the human rights of new generations in facing the threat of climate change.