Greenpeace Africa Calls on African Court to Recognize Climate Destruction as Human Rights Violation

Greenpeace Africa has submitted an amicus curiae brief to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), asserting that climate destruction constitutes a systematic violation of human rights across the continent. The organization contends that extractive industries such as fossil fuel extraction, mining, deforestation, and industrial agriculture threaten fundamental rights to life, health, food, water, and a healthy environment.

Eugene Perumal, Governance and Legal Advisor at Greenpeace Africa, stated: > "This case is about justice for frontline communities already bearing the costs of a climate crisis they are least responsible for. Across the continent, communities are already living with the consequences of decisions made without their consent. We are asking the Court to affirm that governments must protect people and to draw a hard line against this ongoing corporate impunity."

The brief highlights the expansion of industrial livestock production as an emerging threat, noting that such operations concentrate environmental damage, drive deforestation, and shift control of food systems away from local communities toward multinational corporations. Specifically, it references the planned $2.5 billion investment by JBS, the world's largest meat company, into Nigeria's industrial meat processing sector. This expansion raises concerns about environmental impacts, lack of public consultation, and long-term implications for local food systems and livelihoods.

Greenpeace Africa invokes Article 21(5) of the African Charter, which obliges states to eliminate all forms of foreign economic exploitation, particularly by international monopolies. The organization argues that facilitating corporate expansion without transparency, public participation, or environmental impact assessments constitutes a failure of the state's duty to protect.

The submission references the landmark SERAC v. Nigeria (2001) case, which established that states have a positive duty to regulate corporations, conduct and publish impact assessments, and guarantee meaningful community participation before major industrial development proceeds.

Elizabeth Atieno, Food Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, emphasized: > "The projects being approved today will determine who controls our land, our food systems and the health of our planet in the future. We look to the Court for a powerful advisory opinion that cements the rights of African communities to say no to extractive agriculture, and sends a definitive message to corporate exploiters that their time for operating with impunity on this continent is over."

This proceeding is part of a global quartet of parallel advisory proceedings before the world's highest international courts, expected to produce authoritative rulings on climate and human rights law.