Pushed to Poverty: Women, Girls, and the Climate Crisis
At the October 4 Climate Café Multifaith, Nesha Abiraj joined us to talk about the linkage between protecting the rights of women and girls, and climate justice. Ms. Abiraj is an international human rights lawyer. She currently serves as the diplomatic and advocacy liaison to Ocean States, with Stop Ecocide International, an organization seeking to make ecocide the 5th International Crime against Peace. She shared from her experiences related to global health and human rights, and has particular expertise around issues related to protecting the rights of women, children, and other vulnerable communities in coastal regions.
Drawing on her extensive experience and expertise, Ms. Abiraj grounded her presentation in the topics of climate justice and human rights, and she helped us make the connection between climate change and the rights and wellbeing of women and girls globally. We know that the climate crisis does not impact everyone equally. She reminded us that women and girls face some of the harshest impacts of a warming climate and environmental injustice. The suffering is staggering: Ms. Abiraj shared that 175 million children globally are likely to be hit by climate disaster every year in the coming decade[1]; 800,000 women and girls die every year due to lack of clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene[2]; and 9 million children will be pushed into child labor by the end of 2022[3].
Hearing about the magnitude of injustice can often leave us feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about what we can do to make a difference. Ms. Abiraj held up ecocide law, or the movement to get ecocide declared one of the crimes against peace, as a climate solution that also would improve the wellbeing of women and girls. She framed our path forward with two questions: “Can a change to international law be a part of the solution? And if so, how can faith lead the way?”
Throughout her presentation, Ms. Abiraj offered us guidance on how we can in fact be part of the solution. One way to put our faith into action to protect our common home and the rights of the most vulnerable people is to add our voice to a movement called Faith for Ecocide Law. Faith for Ecocide Law is an interreligious coalition of religious and spiritual leaders and voices joining together to show support for an international crime of ecocide. Faith communities have a unique role to play in asserting and affirming the importance of protecting creation.
But First, What Is Ecocide?
Ms. Abiraj’s presentation broke down some of the complexity around the term “ecocide” and explained the origin of existing international crimes.
She told us simply that ecocide is the act of destroying one’s home. There is human-caused ecocide, and naturally occurring ecocide, which is being made worse through human actions. The late Scottish Barrister Polly Higgins was “the pioneer and catalyst for the movement to make Ecocide International Law.”
Ms. Abiraj explained that “the term Ecocide was first coined by Professor Richard Falk back in 1973, when he proposed an international crime of ecocide in response to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Today, we are seeing the type of ecosystem destruction Professor Falk spoke of play out in real time in countries in conflict.” She went on to say, “Ecosystem destruction is now undermining the future of humanity and our planet. The rate at which climate change and mass damage and destruction of nature or ecocide is happening, we are dangerously close to jeopardizing all life on Earth.”
We know the stakes are high, and greater protection of our common home is urgently needed.
“Ecosystem destruction is now undermining the future of humanity and our planet. The rate at which climate change and mass damage and destruction of nature or ecocide is happening, we are dangerously close to jeopardizing all life on Earth.”
—Nesha Abiraj
Photo: A close up portrait of a baby Rhesus Macaque monkey embraced by its mother at Sathodi Falls, Karnataka, India. by Manoj Kulkarni
How Did We Get Here?
Humans’ relationship with the earth is in trouble. For far too long, the planet has been commonly viewed as a resource that is here for just our use; like an “inert thing, a commodity.” We have taken and taken, with the mindset that the Earth was supposed to give to us, without limits.
“Human beings are the only species on the planet that can apply for a permit to legally exploit, extract and destroy our own homes and that of others without consequence. The way we function as a global community is premised on environmental destruction. And dare I say, we have lost our way and we have lost the way we view our relationship and understand our relationship with nature,” Ms. Abiraj said.
In addition to many serious health impacts for people and planet, exploitation and damage to the earth has contributed to unfathomable levels of extreme poverty around the world.
Ms. Abiraj emphasized that “ecocide comes at a high cost to the rights of women and girls.” She shared that “over 380 million women face extreme poverty, living on less than $1.90 a day."[4]
Compounding the economic hardship, Ms. Abiraj shared other impacts of living in extreme poverty: “The implications of this is placing girls, who in many parts of the world are still seen as chattel or property, at severe risk, of early forced and child marriages, which are often used as a guise for human trafficking, labor and or sexual exploitation. Extreme poverty also often leads to climate-forced migration, displacement, an increase in child labor.”
She also noted that often in these circumstances, we also see increased occurrences of violence against women and girls. Ms. Abiraj challenged us: “Do we, year after year, apply Band Aid solutions expecting a permanent fix? Or do we demand climate justice at the international level on behalf of all people?”
“It is an undisputed global reality that women and girls are facing the harshest impact of the climate crisis.”
—Nesha Abiraj
Photo by Deanne Scanlan.
So how would we actually make ecocide an international crime?
Ms. Abiraj reminded us that in a post-World War II era, the world stood at the edge of a precipice, and came together and said “never again,” and out of that came the first three international criminal laws against peace, genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Later on, the crime of aggression was added. These make up the Rome Statute. Now the world finds itself standing at yet another precipice, with the fate of humanity and our planet at stake.
Asserting ecocide as a similar international crime would necessitate amending the Rome Statute, which on its face, sounds like a huge undertaking. But Ms. Abiraj pointed out a really key point to keep in mind, which she said not many people realize: “the crime of ecocide was actually in the original draft of the Rome Statute, but it did not make it in.”
So, while we may face challenges, we are not starting from scratch in efforts for its inclusion. The crimes enshrined in the Rome Statute are agreed upon as really major offences, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the body that “deal[s] with the largest threats to world peace and security.”
Making ecocide rise to this level of a crime would signal to people around the world, and hopefully to the worst polluters, that destruction of our earth, of our very home, is a deeply serious offence, and that there is an international body charged with holding offenders accountable. It would also help to address the “inadequacies” or gaps in current environmental protection laws globally.
“No child should ever have to endure the hardships little girls across the globe are facing— they are even being deprived of the right to dream of a better future.”
—Nesha Abiraj
Photo, portrait of a pre-war child, by James Kovin.
Ms. Abiraj also lifted the veil on a legal strategy that some of the worst polluters employ. She said that some companies “have become so emboldened, that they are now budgeting for what is known as SLAPP lawsuits.”[5] SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, and Ms. Abiraj explained that these lawsuits bury local environmental activists or small NGOs in paperwork, “knowing they will not have the resources to fight them back.” Talk about a David versus Goliath fight. Ms. Abiraj explained that some of the worst offenders are transnational companies “and they continue to profit off of the earth.” Meanwhile, the people who live nearby to this exploitation are suffering the health and social impacts of that destruction.
Hearing about this type of practice brings two points to mind for me about how people of faith can respond to unjust practices such as these lawsuits. As people of faith, part of our role is to join with those that are the most vulnerable and who are suffering because of injustice and exploitation; to stand in solidarity with those most impacted and to join our voices with theirs in pushing back against the injustice.
In this case, it means finding ways to stand in solidarity with those on the front lines of environmental injustice and degradation, as well as standing with those who are dedicating themselves to protecting the planet.
Another part of our role as people of faith is to shine a light onto practices and policies that are unjust, as Ms. Abiraj did when she spoke about SLAPP lawsuits. When more people know about what is going on, more people can join together to demand accountability and changes to practices and policies that are having a negative impact on communities.
Joining our voices with others around the country and world who are advocating for an international law against ecocide is an important action we can take. Ms. Abiraj explained that we need a law of ecocide “because we want accountability for the worst offenders. We want justice for the blameless and the most vulnerable. We want legal deterrence, as mentioned, ‘Think before you act’ provision. We want peace and security and we want to slow the pace of human caused ecocide.”
Better protections for our earth will lead to greater health and wellbeing for women and girls, and for all people, around the world.
“In my own faith, which I learned was the same for all other faiths, as well as indigenous communities, ecocide is seen as a crime against our duty to respect and revere mother earth. Love and law must go hand in hand. Ecocide law is not only necessary, but our righteous responsibility.”
—Nesha Abiraj
Photo by Guillaume Issaly.
How People of Faith Can Help
Amending the Rome Statute to include a law against ecocide is not an easy task. Ms. Abiraj shared, “The main challenge that we face as a global community is the unwillingness of countries to make this law because it is seen as an impediment to financial growth. So to those countries, I have three simple words: people over profit. After all, what good is profit if our world becomes uninhabitable?”
She challenged us to see that this is a place where faith voices can help lead the way toward justice, and in many places (and on various justice issues) people of faith already are leading the way. “Already there is growing global movement across all sectors of society including interfaith communities demanding the creation of a new international crime of ecocide– making it a crime to threaten severe and either widespread or long-term damage to ecosystems. So how can faith lead the way? Different faiths with one common goal to protect all of God's creations against the harmful effects of the climate crisis and that includes our home and all living beings. No child should ever have to endure the hardships little girls across the globe are facing— they are even being deprived of the right to dream of a better future. The blameless and vulnerable deserve justice and we can do that. I am here today to tell you that we can do that.”
We can do that.
Ms. Abiraj was clear about what role faith and the voices of people of faith can play in these efforts. She reminded us that our faith can give us courage, and also said, “We need faith to take the lead to give the much-needed courage to decision makers.”
She encouraged us to talk to our local officials, as well as state and federal representatives, about our interest in preventing further ecocide. Ms. Abiraj powerfully summed up what good could come from these efforts: “Making ‘ecocide’ – severe and either widespread or long-term harm to nature – a crime could provide a legal guardrail to steer us back from the precipice by setting an outer boundary to deter, prevent and sanction the worst threats to ecosystems which are a root cause of climate change. This will act as a powerful brake on harmful extractive practices and a much-needed incentive for strategic change and innovation.”
Faith leaders and other people of faith can help bring about a “revaluing of nature as a source of life, not a resource to be exploited.”
A powerful question, from Ms. Abiraj at the beginning of her presentation, sums this moment up well: “So the question for us, all of us here today, with improved technology, louder voices, and this coming together for climate justice across the globe, will this movement of love turn into action? Never underestimate the power of one single voice to make a difference in the life of a child.”
We each can be part of making positive change happen, and like in many efforts, we can lean on our faith for the courage to begin.
Thank you, Nesha Abiraj!
[1] https://www.end-violence.org/articles/childrens-safety-face-climate-change
[2]g https://www.wateraid.org/media/dirty-water-and-lack-of-safe-toilets-among-top-five-killers-of-women-worldwide
[3] https://data.unicef.org/resources/child-labour-2020-global-estimates-trends-and-the-road-forward/
[4] https://data.unwomen.org/features/poverty-deepens-women-and-girls-according-latest-projections; https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/
For more articles, also news and information, see the Faiths4Future blog page.
Nesha Abiraj is an International Human Rights Lawyer. She currently serves as the Diplomatic and Advocacy Liaison to Ocean States, with Stop Ecocide International, an organization seeking to make ecocide, which is broadly understood to mean, largescale and systematic destruction of nature, the 5th International Crime against Peace. She also serves as an Ambassador to Coastal Regions from the Caribbean to the Pacific on climate justice and human rights. She previously worked with Human Rights Watch, Save the Children and continues to serve as a Lead Advocate for UNICEF USA on international humanitarian response relating to key poverty focused issues impacting the lives of children living in humanitarian and developmental settings including conflict zones. She is also a recently trained, Climate Reality Leader with the Climate Reality Project led by Former Vice President Al Gore.
Her passion for climate justice for all people, in part stems from her Hindu & interfaith upbringing which ingrained in her the principle of “ahimsa” which means non-violence to all living beings. It also shaped and influenced her relationship with the earth and all living beings, as spiritual forces, inertly divine, to be protected, honored, respected and loved.
Nesha has worked on global human rights policies related to the rights of women, children, migrants and global health and human rights. Notably she worked on infectious diseases law and policy in India, China and the United States. In the last 2 years she worked on 5 successful human rights campaigns which resulted in child marriage being banned in the US States of Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts. She was awarded the Citation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for her tireless work to protect children from early, forced and child marriages. She is also the recipient of Recipient of the Pen America, Pen Toni & James C. Goodale, Free Expression Courage Award. She has also done over a decade of humanitarian service in the aftermath of natural disasters and recently in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Caribbean and the United States.
Rachel Lea Scott (she/her) is the faith outreach associate with the Climate Speakers Network at The Climate Reality Project. She works to engage faith leaders and faith communities across the country in climate and environmental justice work. You can learn more about the Climate Speakers Network.
