A personal account by Dr Jan Yves Remy, (External Counsel for Saint Lucia in the ICJ Advisory Opinion Proceedings)

1. Opening — Why Helen Had to Plead

It is no secret that Saint Lucia, like many other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), is fighting on the frontline of a climate change war we did not start. After all, Saint Lucia contributes just 0.0009% of global anthropogenic (or human-made) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (2018)—an insignificant share of the problem.  However, like other SIDS, we stand to lose the most.

And in truth, we have been losing this war in reality and in rhetoric. Reality is felt in more ferocious storms, floods and hurricanes, sargassum seaweed invasions, droughts and aquifer salinisation, and the erosion of beaches. If emissions continue to rise, small islands like ours face erasure— being wiped off the map.

Rhetoric, through negotiations and advocacy, has not delivered the promised fruit of “1.5 to stay alive” —a slogan crafted by our islands to reflect the maximum temperature increase goals in the Paris Agreement. At the 29th session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29), small island states were once again left waiting for the full realization of the commitment to mobilize USD 100 billion per year by 2020 for developing countries  —let alone the USD 300 billion pledged annually by 2035 for developing countries, and the USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035 to be mobilized from a broader range of sources, including private finance. Meanwhile, the existing international finance architecture has deepened our burden: between 2016 and 2020, SIDS paid about 18 times more in debt service than they received in climate finance.   The result is a double bind—disaster then debt—for peoples who did not cause this crisis.

Amidst this tale of doom and gloom, there came a fleeting moment of hope—validation, even—of my 2024 decision to serve as External Counsel and represent Saint Lucia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in pursuit of an Advisory Opinion on States’ obligations regarding climate change.   Specifically, the Court was asked to answer two inter-related legal questions:

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• What are the obligations of States under international law to protect the climate system and the environment from anthropogenic GHG emissions for present and future generations?

• What legal consequences arise for States that, through acts or omissions, cause significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment, especially regarding SIDS with their inherent vulnerabilities, and people and individuals affected by climate change?

After filing a Written Statement and Written Comments (on 21 March 2024 and 15 August 2024 respectively)  and appearing before the Court at the oral hearing at The Hague in the Netherlands (2–13 December 2024) , Saint Lucia, and over 100 States and entities participating in the proceedings, finally got an Opinion on 23 July 2025.   The Opinion—a careful but consequential clarification of law and responsibility—confirmed that binding international obligations are indeed owed to all States, including SIDS, and to persons and individuals, for climate change; and that legal consequences flow from breach of these obligations.

The Opinion, and proceedings leading to it, offered Saint Lucia a measure of reprieve: they provided a global stage to tell the story of “Helen”—the name we give our island for its natural beauty, reminiscent of Helen of Troy—in our own words.   Using a recurring metaphor of the sea, we were able to show how climate change threatens not just our way of life—bleaching our coral reefs, affecting our fishermen’s catch, stripping our beaches of sand, rising to claim our land—but also our history and patrimony. As we explained to the Court, invoking Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott in his poem The Sea is History, the sea holds all of our memories:

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…in that grey vault. The sea. The sea has locked them up. The sea is History.

Participation in the proceedings for the Advisory Opinion represented a defining moment in my professional journey, allowing me to draw on several areas of own expertise in trade, climate and shipping law; as well as in advocacy and litigation.  But it was also deeply personal.

In this piece, I provide a personal account of Saint Lucia’s search for climate justice before the ICJ.  I trace the chronology of events, outlining our strategies and legal arguments before the Court, as well as the themes we chose to best portray them.  As I write, I remain deeply grateful to my fellow legal counsel who were part of the “Team Saint Lucia”; to the staff of the OECS Embassy in Brussels for supporting us at every turn; to our regional brethren and sistren for the faith to walk this journey together; to the Government of Saint Lucia, and in particular the Attorney General and Minister of Sustainable Development, for the trust reposed in my abilities; and to Mr Rahym Augustin-Joseph for assistance in an earlier draft of this piece.  My deepest gratitude however goes out to the 14 men and women who serve as judges of the ICJ.  They restored my faith in the justice of our cause, and bravely played their part in solving a global problem which, in their own words:

requires the contribution of all fields of human knowledge… [and the] human will and wisdom … to change our habits, comforts and current way of life in order to secure a future for ourselves and those who are yet to come.

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