JULIANA CICI

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH

JULIANA CICI

Thank you, it is my privilege and I feel honoured to be part of this interview and bring some highlights and reflection for all the audience in terms of the real global challenge as it is the climate change.

BRIEFLY INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO THE READERS

I am a keen, motivated and dynamic professional woman with a first grade University education in Law and a Master in European and International Governance from the Faculty of Law/University of Geneva. Currently, I am enrolled to continue PhD studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva as a researcher for the project on “Climate Change and Human Rights, including challenges for women’s and migration as comparative approach between European and Africa union.

I am engaged as lecture conducting trainers and short courses online on women’s rights; climate change and human rights in cooperation with the Academy of Leadership and Science in Switzerland and the Academy of Consumer’s Rights in Albania.

Since 2017 up to now, I am engaged as an international consultant for different International Organizations, including the International Office for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva Switzerland and as well a special rapporteur for the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law with a focus on global climate litigation.

During the period from 2019-2021, I have been the co-founder and contributor for the Albanian Women’s Integration in Diaspora within the “Women Alb World International Association” with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

In 2021 I was nominated by the Power House Global Magazine for Women Empower among 50 members from around the world. I have participated as a key speaker in different webinars and recently I had contributed as a moderator for the panel on “Youth-led Climate Litigation” the annual conference on thematic climate change organized by UNEP and Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Columbia Law School.

I have participated in a number of TV Shows with educational, motivating and innovative character and I am the author and coauthor in a number of publications from University of Geneva and other international and national magazines and conferences including: Climate Change and Human Rights in International Law; Climate Change and Women’s Rights: Current Challenges; Migration challenges facing the world and how the UN can respond to them etc.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND POSSIBLE TIPS HOW TO SAVE THE PLANET

Climate change is a very real global phenomenon for the current century and for the future, which requires urgent solutions both at the international level and at the level of each domestic legal order.

As per the statistics from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 17 million people were forcibly displaced in 2018, as a result of the effects of climate change and that these forced displacements carry particular risks for the effects of climate change. Furthermore, these forced displacements carry particular risks for women, including the risk of sexual violence and trafficking in human beings. To date, there are some legal instruments better suited to fight climate change; however, the will of public decision-makers is rarely not to say never present. It would be advisable to reinforce the binding character of certain international legal instruments, in order to hope for positive results in terms of respect for the international commitments of the States of the globe, as well in the drastic reduction of the creative activities of greenhouse gases as in the funding of initiatives contributing to this reduction.

Increasingly, climate litigation is emerging as an important element in efforts to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation.

One of the main reasons for this is the multiplication of national and international legal rules directly related to climate change, which constitute a solid foundation for applicants wishing to recognize the responsibility of governments and private actors with regard to the obligations of and adaptation. In this generalization of climate disputes, several activities are concerned, ranging from coastal development to infrastructure planning, through the extraction of resources. In short, it is about adopting a legal approach to the multiple ways in which climate change affects ecosystems, societies and the rights and interests of individuals.

As Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent and as a global challenge it does not respect national borders, in my opinion another solution should be the need to deepen the Interaction between Gender, Sustainable Development and Climate Change and effective consideration of the gender dimensions in addressing climate change issues, with a view to ensuring that women are key actors on an equal footing with men.

Indeed, women are not only victims, but also agents of change and possess specific knowledge and skills to contribute effectively to climate change adaptation and mitigation; and need more efforts from national level and decision-making bodies for more representatives of women and their contribution.

In the end of this interview, I would like to citate Mother Teresa who said:

“I can do things you cannot do, you can do things I cannot, together we can do great things”