The Inuit people of Canada and Alaska are launching a human rights case against the Bush administration claiming they face extinction because of global warming.
By repudiating the Kyoto protocol and refusing to cut US carbon dioxide emissions, which make up 25% of the world’s total, Washington is violating their human rights, the Inuit claim.
For their campaign they are inviting the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit the Arctic circle to see the devastation being caused by global warming.
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The Washington-based commission, which is the Americas’ equivalent of the European court of human rights, will be asked to rule against the US government but has no power to enforce any action. However, the Inuit believe the publicity the case will provide, particularly with hearings in Washington, will embarrass George Bush’s government and educate US public opinion about the consequences of profligate ways of living.
“Europeans understand this issue but in America the public know little or nothing and politicians are in denial,” Mrs Watt-Cloutier said. “We are hunters and we are trained to go for the heart. The heart of the problem is in Washington.”
It would be nice if America would wake up to this so we could do something about the problem next November.