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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 14 Feb 202614 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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The United States is urging governments to pressure Vanuatu to withdraw a United Nations draft resolution supporting a landmark International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling<\/a> that countries have a legal obligation to act on climate change.<\/p>\n A US State Department cable seen by Al Jazeera on Saturday says that the Trump administration \u201cstrongly objects\u201d to the proposed resolution being circulated by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in support of last year\u2019s ruling by the ICJ \u2013 the UN\u2019s top court.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n The Associated Press news agency, which also reported on the cable, said that it was circulated to all US embassies and consulates this week, shortly after Vanuatu announced it was putting forward the draft UN resolution for consideration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are strongly urging Vanuatu to immediately withdraw its draft resolution and cease attempting to wield the Court\u2019s Advisory Opinion as a basis for creating an avenue to pursue any misguided claims of international legal obligations,\u201d a copy of the cable seen by Al Jazeera states.<\/p>\n The ICJ\u2019s 15 judges considered<\/a> tens of thousands of pages of written submissions and two weeks of oral arguments<\/a> during the court\u2019s biggest-ever case, before delivering their verdict last year that states have a legal obligation to act on the \u201cexistential threat\u201d of climate change.<\/p>\n The ICJ case took place after Vanuatu won the support of 132 countries in the UN General Assembly, which can request opinions from The Hague-based court.<\/p>\n It also came as the Trump administration has sought to undo US action on climate change<\/a>, both at home and at the UN.<\/p>\n The US cable claims that Vanuatu\u2019s proposed UN resolution in support of the ICJ opinion was based on \u201cspeculative climate models to fabricate purported legal obligations that seek to assign blame and encourage baseless claims\u201d.<\/p>\n Louis Charbonneau, Human Rights Watch\u2019s director at the UN, urged support for Vanuatu\u2019s draft resolution on Friday, saying \u201cgovernments should live up to their obligation\u201d to protect human rights around the world by protecting the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cResponsible governments shouldn\u2019t allow themselves to be bullied by those that reject the global scientific consensus and continue to support reliance on harmful fossil fuels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Vanuatu\u2019s UN Ambassador Odo Tevi, who said his country wants a vote on the resolution by the end of March, has stressed that it would ensure that the clarity in the ICJ ruling \u201cstrengthens global climate action and multilateral cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n An article in Vanuatu\u2019s Daily Post newspaper said that the draft resolution has been endorsed by countries including Barbados, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Jamaica, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, the Netherlands, Palau, the Philippines, Singapore and Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n Many of these countries are already experiencing the worsening effects of climate change, including increasingly severe storms.<\/p>\n Trump, who has promised to \u201cdrill, baby drill\u201d<\/a> for oil in his second term, has withdrawn the US from UN climate bodies, including the UN\u2019s top climate change treaty body, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).<\/p>\n