Back to : Colloquium Acting in Justice in the Name of Future Generations: A Growing Reality as a Vehicle for Peace

November 7th – 18th, 2017

This conference was organized within the framework of the Normandy for Peace program initiated by the Normandy Region, organized with the support of the GIP Mission de recherche Droit et Justice. It represents the pillars of the Normandy Chair for Peace launched in 21019 by the Normandy Region in collaboration with the University of Caen and the CNRS. The MSM of Caen Normandy holds the Chair and organizes major events, both in Normandy and internationally.

The very concept of Justice is now understood in the light of the legal protection of future generations: environmental justice, climate justice (enshrined in the Paris Agreement), protection of common goods are all new facets of the concept of justice, specific to our time. We are undoubtedly living in a time of metamorphosis of law and rights. It is in this context that the international colloquium “Acting in justice on behalf of future generations” is being held.

Is it possible to take legal action on behalf of future generations, and if so, on what legal grounds? What areas have already been successfully or unsuccessfully defended in court on behalf of future generations? Are there areas where such legal action could occur? Unquestionably, the international colloquium organized on November 17 and 18, 2017 intends to honor lawyers, true pioneers of the law of future generations.

It was in 1993, in the now famous case of Oposa v. Factoran, that a Filipino lawyer opened the way by invoking before the Supreme Court of the Philippines to stop the overexploitation of forests in the name of future generations, thus creating a real precedent. A precedent in Philippine law, since this case now makes it possible to defend, even today, the rights of future generations against the exploration of hydrocarbons in the oceans. Precedent at the global level, in that this case prefigures the entry into a new era of legal action. Mass litigation, litigation of humanity in defense of the future, cases invoking the rights of future generations are multiplying across the planet. These are legal actions that have been transformed precisely because they are brought in the name and on behalf of future generations. They are expressed before national courts but also before the International Court of Justice. If climate justice actions are particularly in the spotlight at the moment, it is important to understand that they are part of a much larger movement of metamorphosis of the contemporary legal universe that touches the heart of the legitimate fields of law and therefore of legal action.

This international colloquium will be opened by Professor Mireille Delmas Marty who will put into perspective the following themes

• Le nucléaire et le droit des générations futures d’hier a aujourd’hui
• Les actions en justice climatique au nom des générations futures
• Les actions en justice de protection des communs
• Quelle protection durable pour l’intégrité de l’espèce humaine ?

Scientific direction:

• Emilie GAILLARD (Maître de conférences en droit privé, université de Caen Normandie, enseignante à Sc Po Rennes)

Scientific Committee:

• Mireille DELMAS-MARTY (Professeur honoraire au Collège de France, Membre de l’Institut
• David FORMAN ((Directeur du Programme de droit de l’environnement à l’Université d’Hawaï)
• Agnès MICHELOT (Maître de conférences en droit public, université de La Rochelle, Présidente de la Société Française pour le Droit de l’Environnement)
• Tony OPOSA (Avocat, Philippines)
• Michel PRIEUR (Président du Centre International de Droit Comparé de l’Environnement.
• Nicholas A. ROBINSON (Professeur de droit international de l’environnement, Pace university, Etats-Unis)

Scientific sponsorship :

• Institut Demolombe, Faculté de droit de Caen
• Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Rennes, Campus de Caen
• Société Française pour le droit de l’environnement, Strasbourg.
• Centre International de Droit Comparé de l’Environnement, Limoges.
• Environmental Law Program, University of Hawaii.
• Pace Law University, Prof. Ottinger & Robinson
• GIP Droit et Justice

To go further :

• Plaidoyer pour l’extension de la personnalité juridique, en référence à la perspective africaine. 
• Lancement du premier ouvrage de la collection Chaire d’excellence Normandie pour la Paix

Interventions to be found on the MRSH’s Digital Forge:

• Le traité sur l’interdiction des armes nucléaires : vers de nouvelles actions en justice pour la protection des générations futures ? par Jean-Marie Collin
• La question nucléaire, à l’origine d’une nouvelle pensée : le catastrophisme par Frédérick Lemarchand
• Le réchauffement climatique et les juges, une révolution judiciaire mondiale ? par Christian Huglo
• Pour la reconnaissance des droits et des devoirs de l’Humanité par Corinne Lepage
• L’affaire Climat en Belgique par Serge de Gheldere
• La transformation de la société polynésienne avec les essais nucléaires par Winiki Sage
• Preemption of County Ordinances Regulating Pesticide Use by GE/GMO Seed Companies in Hawai`I par David Forman
• L’atteinte aux générations futures. Le point de vue du biologiste par Gilles-Eric Séralini