Latest news with #David-versus-Goliath
Observer
2 days ago
- Politics
- Observer
Duty to protect climate
Although the International Court of Justice turned 80 this year, there is a sense in which it has never felt younger. In a David-versus-Goliath moment, the tiny Pacific Island state of Vanuatu recently changed international law forever by bringing the world's most important issue before its highest court. The result is an ICJ advisory opinion on 'the legal obligations of states in respect of climate change', as requested — at Vanuatu's urging — by the United Nations General Assembly (with 132 states co-sponsoring the resolution). The questions posed to the ICJ were as simple as they were seismic: What obligations, under international law, do states have to tackle climate change? And what are the legal consequences if they fail to do so? The ICJ's answer was unequivocal. States have a duty to protect their citizens from climate change — a duty rooted not only in treaties like the Paris climate agreement, but also in environmental law, human-rights law and customary international law. 'Climate change', said the court's president, Yuji Iwasawa, speaking from the Peace Palace in The Hague, 'is an urgent and existential threat of planetary proportions'. 'The science is clear'. notes John Silk, the Marshall Islands' representative to the UN, 'and now the law is, too'. The fact that this bold message was delivered unanimously by the highest court in the international system would have been extraordinary enough. But the path that led to this outcome is even more remarkable. The most significant climate case ever heard by the ICJ began not in a ministry or a think tank, but in a classroom. It was conceived by a group of 27 Pacific Islands law students who formed the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), led initially by Solomon Yeo and then by Cynthia Houniuhi, both from the Solomon Islands, as well as Vishal Prasad from Fiji, Siosiua Veikune from Tonga and others. These were not seasoned diplomats, nor were they backed by billionaires. But they were determined. 'Whether you win or lose, some fights are worth fighting', argued Justin Rose, a former lecturer at the University of the South Pacific (in Fiji), whose classroom exercise first planted the seed of this unlikely revolution in 2019. What obligations, under international law, do states have to tackle climate change? The ruling delivers a resounding victory for the climate-justice movement that has been gaining momentum ever since the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg staged her first solo protest. Now, for the first time, the movement's inter-generational demand for dignity and legal recognition has a concrete judicial imprimatur. It is also a triumph for the Global South. For decades, developing countries have called attention to the injustice of being exposed to the gravest consequences of a problem they did not cause. Now, the ICJ has acknowledged this asymmetry and taken the first step towards correcting it, vindicating, in particular, the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change: small island states with vanishing coastlines, salinising freshwater and intensifying cyclones. Countries long treated as voiceless victims have become the protagonists in a world-spanning legal story. This was not the first attempt to bring climate justice to The Hague. Palau and the Marshall Islands made a similar effort in 2012, but it stalled for lack of political backing. The difference this time lay not just in the Pacific Islanders' persistence, but also in their strategy for building solidarity. Refusing to follow the usual, stodgy diplomatic script, they brought the warmth of the South Pacific to international law. Houniuhi always wore a rorodara (a seashell-studded ceremonial headdress) to address the UN and her group treated the courtroom drama as occasion for song and dance. Hearings were celebrated as watch parties. The Pacific Islanders also built coalitions across oceans and generations — working with Vanuatu's then-Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu, Caribbean allies and youth activists worldwide. With some countries even calling for financial reparations, the ICJ process became a movement in itself. The ICJ's ruling comes at a time when other international courts are converging on similar conclusions. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has just affirmed that states must curb marine pollution from greenhouse-gas emissions; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has, in an opinion on climate obligations, recognised the right to a healthy climate as a human right; and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights is in the process of weighing in on the matter. The ICJ's opinion is not legally binding, but it is far from toothless. Its authority comes not from enforcement, but from amplification. It crystallises a set of norms for courts, lawmakers and activists around the world; and it sharpens the tools of transnational litigation. Hence, the ICJ decision is already expected to influence domestic cases, such as Greenpeace's suit against the Italian oil company Eni. It may also mean that countries can sue each other over climate change. The evolution of climate justice from a slogan into a legal standard may be the most important signal yet that a genuinely global legal system is emerging. By that I do not mean a world government, but rather a legal system defined by what the legal theorist HLA Hart called 'the union of primary and secondary rules' recognised across jurisdictions. Climate law, once a patchwork of soft pledges and nonbinding resolutions, is being stitched into something more cohesive and robust. @Project Syndicate, 2025
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Advertiser
A schnitzel and words of advice: How Cooks Hill prepared for David-v-Goliath Cup battle
Words of advice from players who have plenty of big-game experience and a feed at Harrys Schnitzel was how Cooks Hill prepared for a David-versus-Goliath showdown with the Newcastle Jets in the Australia Cup round of 16 on Wednesday night. It will be the biggest moment in the young club's history. Cooks Hill's fairytale run in the nationwide knockout soccer competition is the stuff dreams are made of. The inner-city club, founded in 1997, was playing third-tier football in Northern NSW a decade ago. Now, they are set to face off with Newcastle's A-League side at No.2 Sportsground (7.30pm) for a shot at a Cup quarter-final appearance. To say they are underdogs is a massive understatement. The Cup giant-killers have finished ninth in NPL Northern NSW this season. "We're going to be without the ball a lot of the time," Cooks Hill coach Chris Zoricich, who also works in the Jets youth system, said. "Being involved with the [Jets] under 23s, I know the pace of the movement, the pace of the ball is going to be a little bit of a shock to the system compared to the week in, week out we get at NPL level. "The sooner we can get used to that and not be overwhelmed by it, then we'll be fine." Cooks Hill produced a stunning 2-1 upset over back-to-back NPL premiers Broadmeadow to progress to the Cup's round of 32. A come-from-behind 3-2 victory over NPL South Australian side Adelaide Croatia in Adelaide followed. "What we've achieved so far is fantastic, and we'll always have that," Zoricich said. "No one can take that away from the players. But there's one more job to do, and I just want the boys to put on a really good performance so they can come off, even if the result doesn't go our way, they can come off and say, 'We gave it a bloody good go, we gave it our best shot and we didn't leave anything out there'. "That's all you can do. At the end of the day, if our best isn't good enough then that's fine." On Monday night, Zoricich arranged for former national league players Craig Deans, Scott Thomas and Joel Griffiths, a former Socceroo and part of the Jets' 2007-08 A-League championship-winning side, to address his squad. "They're coming in to speak to the boys just to give them their experiences on big games and what they've been through, hopefully they'll take something from that," Zoricich told the Newcastle Herald on Monday. "Then we're having a team dinner at Harrys Schnitzel. Today is more about the emotional and mental side of it, and then tomorrow will be more tactical, about how we're going to approach it and what we're going to do. "On the day, there will be very little to say, it's up to the players then. I'm just trying to pump them up as much as possible, make them feel good and say, whatever has gone on this season, that's in the past. It doesn't really matter. "It's a one-off game here, and anything can happen in a game of football, as we know, so we've just got to go out there and give it everything we've got." It has been a hectic finish to the season with Australia Cup games, a backlog of midweek catch-up matches after rain wreaked havoc on the competition and a Northern NSW State Cup showdown with Weston, which Cooks Hill won on penalties on July 26. With finals already beyond their reach heading into the NPL's final round last weekend, Zoricich rested a number of players to freshen them up for Wednesday night. Cooks Hill's senior squad is relatively young but also includes 36-year-old club captain and defensive midfielder Daniel Clements, who along with Dan Yaxley and Alex Gillespie joined Cooks Hill in 2017 and helped the club earn promotion to NPL in 2022. "The players are excited," Zoricich said. "I'm telling them to soak everything up. I don't want them to have any regrets. I want them to enjoy it. I want them to enjoy the exposure that they're getting because it might not come around again for a few of them. We're just going to enjoy the occasion. "We have a pretty young squad. The majority of them are between the 19 to 23 age group and a couple in between, and then you've got the old codger Dan Clements, who was the fittest of all of them during pre-season. He's done very well for us this season." Clements shook off illness to produce a Herculean 90-minute effort in Adelaide three weeks ago and was relishing every minute of the club's Cup journey. "I never expected to be playing NPL again when we stepped back to play for Cooks Hill," Clements said after the club's round-of-32 win. "We were going to get them promoted and then sail off into the sunset, and yet, here we are. "I honestly never thought we'd be in this position, and it really is something that's making me very happy at this late stage in my career, to be able to enjoy something like this with a great bunch of boys. "I'm just trying to soak it in, but the excitement is through the roof. I'm really excited for the volunteers and the people behind the scenes at this club, to be able to do what we've done is fantastic, and it's given a stage for some of the younger boys as well." Words of advice from players who have plenty of big-game experience and a feed at Harrys Schnitzel was how Cooks Hill prepared for a David-versus-Goliath showdown with the Newcastle Jets in the Australia Cup round of 16 on Wednesday night. It will be the biggest moment in the young club's history. Cooks Hill's fairytale run in the nationwide knockout soccer competition is the stuff dreams are made of. The inner-city club, founded in 1997, was playing third-tier football in Northern NSW a decade ago. Now, they are set to face off with Newcastle's A-League side at No.2 Sportsground (7.30pm) for a shot at a Cup quarter-final appearance. To say they are underdogs is a massive understatement. The Cup giant-killers have finished ninth in NPL Northern NSW this season. "We're going to be without the ball a lot of the time," Cooks Hill coach Chris Zoricich, who also works in the Jets youth system, said. "Being involved with the [Jets] under 23s, I know the pace of the movement, the pace of the ball is going to be a little bit of a shock to the system compared to the week in, week out we get at NPL level. "The sooner we can get used to that and not be overwhelmed by it, then we'll be fine." Cooks Hill produced a stunning 2-1 upset over back-to-back NPL premiers Broadmeadow to progress to the Cup's round of 32. A come-from-behind 3-2 victory over NPL South Australian side Adelaide Croatia in Adelaide followed. "What we've achieved so far is fantastic, and we'll always have that," Zoricich said. "No one can take that away from the players. But there's one more job to do, and I just want the boys to put on a really good performance so they can come off, even if the result doesn't go our way, they can come off and say, 'We gave it a bloody good go, we gave it our best shot and we didn't leave anything out there'. "That's all you can do. At the end of the day, if our best isn't good enough then that's fine." On Monday night, Zoricich arranged for former national league players Craig Deans, Scott Thomas and Joel Griffiths, a former Socceroo and part of the Jets' 2007-08 A-League championship-winning side, to address his squad. "They're coming in to speak to the boys just to give them their experiences on big games and what they've been through, hopefully they'll take something from that," Zoricich told the Newcastle Herald on Monday. "Then we're having a team dinner at Harrys Schnitzel. Today is more about the emotional and mental side of it, and then tomorrow will be more tactical, about how we're going to approach it and what we're going to do. "On the day, there will be very little to say, it's up to the players then. I'm just trying to pump them up as much as possible, make them feel good and say, whatever has gone on this season, that's in the past. It doesn't really matter. "It's a one-off game here, and anything can happen in a game of football, as we know, so we've just got to go out there and give it everything we've got." It has been a hectic finish to the season with Australia Cup games, a backlog of midweek catch-up matches after rain wreaked havoc on the competition and a Northern NSW State Cup showdown with Weston, which Cooks Hill won on penalties on July 26. With finals already beyond their reach heading into the NPL's final round last weekend, Zoricich rested a number of players to freshen them up for Wednesday night. Cooks Hill's senior squad is relatively young but also includes 36-year-old club captain and defensive midfielder Daniel Clements, who along with Dan Yaxley and Alex Gillespie joined Cooks Hill in 2017 and helped the club earn promotion to NPL in 2022. "The players are excited," Zoricich said. "I'm telling them to soak everything up. I don't want them to have any regrets. I want them to enjoy it. I want them to enjoy the exposure that they're getting because it might not come around again for a few of them. We're just going to enjoy the occasion. "We have a pretty young squad. The majority of them are between the 19 to 23 age group and a couple in between, and then you've got the old codger Dan Clements, who was the fittest of all of them during pre-season. He's done very well for us this season." Clements shook off illness to produce a Herculean 90-minute effort in Adelaide three weeks ago and was relishing every minute of the club's Cup journey. "I never expected to be playing NPL again when we stepped back to play for Cooks Hill," Clements said after the club's round-of-32 win. "We were going to get them promoted and then sail off into the sunset, and yet, here we are. "I honestly never thought we'd be in this position, and it really is something that's making me very happy at this late stage in my career, to be able to enjoy something like this with a great bunch of boys. "I'm just trying to soak it in, but the excitement is through the roof. I'm really excited for the volunteers and the people behind the scenes at this club, to be able to do what we've done is fantastic, and it's given a stage for some of the younger boys as well." Words of advice from players who have plenty of big-game experience and a feed at Harrys Schnitzel was how Cooks Hill prepared for a David-versus-Goliath showdown with the Newcastle Jets in the Australia Cup round of 16 on Wednesday night. It will be the biggest moment in the young club's history. Cooks Hill's fairytale run in the nationwide knockout soccer competition is the stuff dreams are made of. The inner-city club, founded in 1997, was playing third-tier football in Northern NSW a decade ago. Now, they are set to face off with Newcastle's A-League side at No.2 Sportsground (7.30pm) for a shot at a Cup quarter-final appearance. To say they are underdogs is a massive understatement. The Cup giant-killers have finished ninth in NPL Northern NSW this season. "We're going to be without the ball a lot of the time," Cooks Hill coach Chris Zoricich, who also works in the Jets youth system, said. "Being involved with the [Jets] under 23s, I know the pace of the movement, the pace of the ball is going to be a little bit of a shock to the system compared to the week in, week out we get at NPL level. "The sooner we can get used to that and not be overwhelmed by it, then we'll be fine." Cooks Hill produced a stunning 2-1 upset over back-to-back NPL premiers Broadmeadow to progress to the Cup's round of 32. A come-from-behind 3-2 victory over NPL South Australian side Adelaide Croatia in Adelaide followed. "What we've achieved so far is fantastic, and we'll always have that," Zoricich said. "No one can take that away from the players. But there's one more job to do, and I just want the boys to put on a really good performance so they can come off, even if the result doesn't go our way, they can come off and say, 'We gave it a bloody good go, we gave it our best shot and we didn't leave anything out there'. "That's all you can do. At the end of the day, if our best isn't good enough then that's fine." On Monday night, Zoricich arranged for former national league players Craig Deans, Scott Thomas and Joel Griffiths, a former Socceroo and part of the Jets' 2007-08 A-League championship-winning side, to address his squad. "They're coming in to speak to the boys just to give them their experiences on big games and what they've been through, hopefully they'll take something from that," Zoricich told the Newcastle Herald on Monday. "Then we're having a team dinner at Harrys Schnitzel. Today is more about the emotional and mental side of it, and then tomorrow will be more tactical, about how we're going to approach it and what we're going to do. "On the day, there will be very little to say, it's up to the players then. I'm just trying to pump them up as much as possible, make them feel good and say, whatever has gone on this season, that's in the past. It doesn't really matter. "It's a one-off game here, and anything can happen in a game of football, as we know, so we've just got to go out there and give it everything we've got." It has been a hectic finish to the season with Australia Cup games, a backlog of midweek catch-up matches after rain wreaked havoc on the competition and a Northern NSW State Cup showdown with Weston, which Cooks Hill won on penalties on July 26. With finals already beyond their reach heading into the NPL's final round last weekend, Zoricich rested a number of players to freshen them up for Wednesday night. Cooks Hill's senior squad is relatively young but also includes 36-year-old club captain and defensive midfielder Daniel Clements, who along with Dan Yaxley and Alex Gillespie joined Cooks Hill in 2017 and helped the club earn promotion to NPL in 2022. "The players are excited," Zoricich said. "I'm telling them to soak everything up. I don't want them to have any regrets. I want them to enjoy it. I want them to enjoy the exposure that they're getting because it might not come around again for a few of them. We're just going to enjoy the occasion. "We have a pretty young squad. The majority of them are between the 19 to 23 age group and a couple in between, and then you've got the old codger Dan Clements, who was the fittest of all of them during pre-season. He's done very well for us this season." Clements shook off illness to produce a Herculean 90-minute effort in Adelaide three weeks ago and was relishing every minute of the club's Cup journey. "I never expected to be playing NPL again when we stepped back to play for Cooks Hill," Clements said after the club's round-of-32 win. "We were going to get them promoted and then sail off into the sunset, and yet, here we are. "I honestly never thought we'd be in this position, and it really is something that's making me very happy at this late stage in my career, to be able to enjoy something like this with a great bunch of boys. "I'm just trying to soak it in, but the excitement is through the roof. I'm really excited for the volunteers and the people behind the scenes at this club, to be able to do what we've done is fantastic, and it's given a stage for some of the younger boys as well." Words of advice from players who have plenty of big-game experience and a feed at Harrys Schnitzel was how Cooks Hill prepared for a David-versus-Goliath showdown with the Newcastle Jets in the Australia Cup round of 16 on Wednesday night. It will be the biggest moment in the young club's history. Cooks Hill's fairytale run in the nationwide knockout soccer competition is the stuff dreams are made of. The inner-city club, founded in 1997, was playing third-tier football in Northern NSW a decade ago. Now, they are set to face off with Newcastle's A-League side at No.2 Sportsground (7.30pm) for a shot at a Cup quarter-final appearance. To say they are underdogs is a massive understatement. The Cup giant-killers have finished ninth in NPL Northern NSW this season. "We're going to be without the ball a lot of the time," Cooks Hill coach Chris Zoricich, who also works in the Jets youth system, said. "Being involved with the [Jets] under 23s, I know the pace of the movement, the pace of the ball is going to be a little bit of a shock to the system compared to the week in, week out we get at NPL level. "The sooner we can get used to that and not be overwhelmed by it, then we'll be fine." Cooks Hill produced a stunning 2-1 upset over back-to-back NPL premiers Broadmeadow to progress to the Cup's round of 32. A come-from-behind 3-2 victory over NPL South Australian side Adelaide Croatia in Adelaide followed. "What we've achieved so far is fantastic, and we'll always have that," Zoricich said. "No one can take that away from the players. But there's one more job to do, and I just want the boys to put on a really good performance so they can come off, even if the result doesn't go our way, they can come off and say, 'We gave it a bloody good go, we gave it our best shot and we didn't leave anything out there'. "That's all you can do. At the end of the day, if our best isn't good enough then that's fine." On Monday night, Zoricich arranged for former national league players Craig Deans, Scott Thomas and Joel Griffiths, a former Socceroo and part of the Jets' 2007-08 A-League championship-winning side, to address his squad. "They're coming in to speak to the boys just to give them their experiences on big games and what they've been through, hopefully they'll take something from that," Zoricich told the Newcastle Herald on Monday. "Then we're having a team dinner at Harrys Schnitzel. Today is more about the emotional and mental side of it, and then tomorrow will be more tactical, about how we're going to approach it and what we're going to do. "On the day, there will be very little to say, it's up to the players then. I'm just trying to pump them up as much as possible, make them feel good and say, whatever has gone on this season, that's in the past. It doesn't really matter. "It's a one-off game here, and anything can happen in a game of football, as we know, so we've just got to go out there and give it everything we've got." It has been a hectic finish to the season with Australia Cup games, a backlog of midweek catch-up matches after rain wreaked havoc on the competition and a Northern NSW State Cup showdown with Weston, which Cooks Hill won on penalties on July 26. With finals already beyond their reach heading into the NPL's final round last weekend, Zoricich rested a number of players to freshen them up for Wednesday night. Cooks Hill's senior squad is relatively young but also includes 36-year-old club captain and defensive midfielder Daniel Clements, who along with Dan Yaxley and Alex Gillespie joined Cooks Hill in 2017 and helped the club earn promotion to NPL in 2022. "The players are excited," Zoricich said. "I'm telling them to soak everything up. I don't want them to have any regrets. I want them to enjoy it. I want them to enjoy the exposure that they're getting because it might not come around again for a few of them. We're just going to enjoy the occasion. "We have a pretty young squad. The majority of them are between the 19 to 23 age group and a couple in between, and then you've got the old codger Dan Clements, who was the fittest of all of them during pre-season. He's done very well for us this season." Clements shook off illness to produce a Herculean 90-minute effort in Adelaide three weeks ago and was relishing every minute of the club's Cup journey. "I never expected to be playing NPL again when we stepped back to play for Cooks Hill," Clements said after the club's round-of-32 win. "We were going to get them promoted and then sail off into the sunset, and yet, here we are. "I honestly never thought we'd be in this position, and it really is something that's making me very happy at this late stage in my career, to be able to enjoy something like this with a great bunch of boys. "I'm just trying to soak it in, but the excitement is through the roof. I'm really excited for the volunteers and the people behind the scenes at this club, to be able to do what we've done is fantastic, and it's given a stage for some of the younger boys as well."
