Federico Reyes Heroles
The “Essential Elements of the State” boomed in the Law School classroom: 1. people or nation 2. territory 3. government or organized political power and, therefore, 4. a legitimate Rule of Law based on the division of Powers. But history, that great cheater, has shown us the fragility of these “essential elements.” Governments fall or are overthrown, from Hitler to the Al Assad lineage. That was a frequent story in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s.
To complicate matters, identity claims proliferated in the second half of the 20th century, demanding the creation of new nation-states. The multiplication was incredible. There were years when more than two states were created. Subdivision based on religion, ethnic identity, and language does not cease. In Rwanda, in the 1990s, the Hutus decided to wipe the Tutsis off the face of the earth. It is estimated that between 500,000 and one million people died. In 1969, man landed on the moon and …. Civilization? The stark violence shows us that the possibilities of hatred know no bounds.
Territorial conflicts, sometimes dormant, are in history and the present. The same is true between Brazil and Uruguay, or between Colombia and Peru and others. What can we say about the Sudeten in the territory of what was Czechoslovakia, which triggered the Second World War? Closer cases: the Middle East. The “essential elements” are often shaken. But always, there are new developments. Tuvalu and Vanuatu are words that tell us little. They are two tiny states in Oceania settled on fragile archipelagos threatened with death by rising sea levels. They may disappear. There are places on an atoll where the water on both sides is about to meet. We are facing an unprecedented event: the disappearance of the territory of a state caused by human action.
That is why, led by Vanuatu, they went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In The Hague, a special hearing will be held to hear their claims, which are aimed directly at the emission of greenhouse gases. Vanuatu has about 320,000 inhabitants, which is enormous compared to Tuvalu, which has only 12,000. In the latter country, the property is communal and is passed down through the family line. Their dead and their temples, as in other countries of that area, are in their own houses. It is only 26 square kilometers.
But the relevance of the case is different, and it is capital. To raise the claim of these nations is to point out the enormous irresponsibility of the major players. The ICJ -the highest instance of justice of humanity- will review the commitments made and not fulfilled, as well as the responsibilities of the different actors towards future generations that -if we continue as we are going- will lose natural heritage. According to Climate Watch, Tuvalu is one of the 25 countries with the lowest carbon footprint per capita. It is estimated that there are 33 high-risk countries, the most serious being Chad, Somalia, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, South Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. The latter has 75% of its territory flooded.
Some cynics will say these are poor countries, but are not. Australia lost 8.4 million hectares in 2019, with different kinds of flora and about 1 billion animals! Chile faces problems, just like Florida, North Carolina, and California, which burn every year. So is Mexico. The great glaciers are falling apart in a heartbreaking spectacle. But Trump and his followers don’t believe in climate change. According to the UN, by 2100, five billion humans will live in arid zones. Already, 77.6% of the Earth has abnormal temperatures. From 1990 to 2015, the GDP in Africa fell 12 percent. More misery, less biodiversity.
Human beings are at the origin and can also be the solution. When will we realize that… we, as a whole, are Tuvalu?
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