Climate Change Is Erasing Nations and the World Is Still Looking Away: TheTorres Strait Islanders vs. Australia (UNHRC Case, 2022–2024)

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Rising sea levels are often spoken of as a purely environmental issue, but for many

Pacific Island communities, they are also a fight for cultural survival, dignity, and legal

recognition. The world continues to react with slow diplomacy, even as entire nations

confront the possibility of becoming uninhabitable within a generation. Climate change is no

longer a future threat, but a present human rights emergency, and the international system is

failing to protect those on its frontlines.

On September 22nd, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC)

ruled that Australia had violated the rights of the Torres Strait Islanders, Australian nationals,

by failing to take necessary climate action regarding the protection of their homes, sacred

sites, and ways of life (OHCHR, 2022). This landmark decision, further detailed in the

petition Daniel Billy and Others v. Australia (Climate Case Chart, 2022), acknowledged that

climate inaction can directly infringe upon rights to culture, family and life. Yet three years

later, the ruling remains largely symbolic. Rising tides continue to flood ancestral land, erode

cemeteries, and disrupt traditional food systems across the islands.

The Torres Strait case is just one example of a much wider crisis. Communities in

Tuvalu and Kiribati already face saltwater intrusion, loss of arable land, and displacement. In

Tuvalu, the government has warned that parts of the country may become uninhabitable within decades, prompting a historic agreement with Australia to guarantee mobility rights for Tuvaluan citizens affected by climate impacts - the Falepili Union Treaty (DFAT, 2023).

Analyses such as the Center for Global Development’s briefing note underline how

unprecedented and necessary this agreement has become in the face of accelerating

climate risks (CGD, 2024).

Although groundbreaking, the treaty reflects a painful reality:

entire nations may soon face relocation as their only viable adaptation strategy.

The victims are clear: Indigenous and small-island communities whose livelihoods

depend on land, reef systems, and cultural continuity. These communities contribute virtually

nothing to global emissions yet bear disproportionate consequences. The aggressor,

however, is not a single state but a global system built on fossil-fuel dependency, insufficient

mitigation, and decades of delayed action. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) reiterates, low-lying island states face existential risks unless global

emissions decline rapidly (IPCC, 2023).

International responses remain fragmented and inadequate. While the UNHRC ruling

set an important precedent, it does not compel states to change their policies. The Loss and

Damage Fund, established at COP28, represents progress, but contributions remain

voluntary and insufficient. Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International

highlight the urgent need for wealthy states to create clear pathways for climate-displaced

populations and to treat climate mobility as a matter of protection rather than migration

control (Amnesty International, 2024). Yet no international legal framework currently

guarantees the rights of people displaced by climate impacts.

Local authorities across the Pacific continue to adapt, reinforcing seawalls, adjusting

agricultural practices, and mapping relocation pathways, but these efforts cannot

compensate for global inaction. Without structural change, adaptation will merely delay the

inevitable. The world must recognise that the disappearance of territories also means the

erosion of identity, sovereignty, and rights. A nation cannot simply “move” without losing

something fundamental.

If the international community wishes to uphold the principles of human rights it so

often invokes, it must act decisively. States should commit to rapid emissions reduction,

expand climate finance, and create legal protections for people displaced by climate change.

The case of the Torres Strait Islanders is not an isolated warning; it is the beginning of a

global shift that demands new legal, moral, and political frameworks. The world cannot

continue looking away while entire nations face erasure. Climate justice is an immediate

responsibility and should not be a distant aspiration.

Sources:

• ABC News (2022). UN finds Australia violated Torres Strait Islanders' rights by failing to protect them from climate change. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-23/un-finds-australia-violated-torres-strait-islanders-rights/101470524

• Al Jazeera (2022). Australia climate change inaction violated islanders’ rights, UN finds. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/23/australia-climate-change-inaction-violated-islanders-rights-un

• Amnesty International (2024). Navigating Injustice: Climate Displacement from the Pacific Islands. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org

• Center for Global Development (2024). The Australia–Tuvalu Climate and Migration Agreement (Note). Available at: https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/Note-Australia-Tuvalu%20agreement%20note%20v2-LJ-2a.pdf

• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2023). Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty.

  Australian Government. Available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty

• Human Rights Committee (2022). Australia violated Torres Strait Islanders’ rights to enjoy culture and family life. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/09/australia-violated-torres-strait-islanders-rights-enjoy-culture-and-family

• Human Rights Committee (2022). Daniel Billy and others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders petition). Climate Case Chart. Available at: https://www.climatecasechart.com/document/daniel-billy-and-others-v-australia-torres-strait-islanders-petition_191e

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. IPCC. Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/

• Roses in the Ocean (n.d.). Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Communities – Resource Hub. Available at: https://rosesintheocean.com.au/resources-hub/aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-communities/

written by Isadora de Carvalho Alvarez