The procedural criteria for admissibility of climate cases in the European Court ofHuman Rights in light of the case of Duarte Agostinho and others v. Portugal and 32 other States

This scientific paper consists of the procedural criteria for admissibility of cases involving climate change at the European Court of Human Rights, having established the following research problem: How does the Case Duarte Agostinho and Others vs. Portugal and 32 other States make it possible to deal with the admissibility of cases based on Human Rights violations arising from climate change before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)? The analytical-normative research method, of a deductive nature, was adopted, with the general objective of understanding the extent of the admissibility of disputes based on human rights violations arising from the climate crisis before the ECHR, grounded on the jurisprudential framework of the decision rendered in that Case. As the research technique is exploratory and bibliographical, the paper is divided into two parts, corresponding to the specific objectives, investigating the criterion for depletion of internal resources, based on the principle of subsidiarity and the theory of margin of appreciation (I), as well as analyzing the arguments and grounds used in the Case's decision to reject the applicants' petition considering the interrelationship between human rights and climate change and the definition of victim status, whether potential or effective. (II). From the analysis of the Duarte Agostinho and Others vs. Portugal and 32 other States Case, there is a tendency by the ECHR legal reasoning to render more flexible the procedural admissibility requirements regarding the treatment of petitions based on human rights violations arising from climate change and to give special treatment to the condition of victim in future cases.