Daniel Billy and Others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders Petition)

The United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that Australia violated the rights of indigenous Torres Strait Islanders to enjoy their culture and be free from arbitrary interference with their private life, family, and home due to inadequate climate change protections. The petitioners, inhabitants of Boigu, Poruma, Warraber, and Masig islands, argued that sea level rise and extreme weather destroyed ancestral graves, degraded traditional food sources, and threatened their cultural ceremonies. While Australia constructed new seawalls expected to be completed by 2023, the Committee found these measures insufficient and ordered Australia to compensate the Islanders, engage in meaningful consultations, and secure the communities' safe existence on their islands.

• The United Nations Human Rights Committee determined that Australia violated the rights of indigenous Torres Strait Islanders to enjoy their culture and to be free from arbitrary interference with their private life, family, and home because the government failed to adequately protect them from climate change impacts.
• Climate change impacts on the islands of Boigu, Poruma, Warraber, and Masig include tidal surges that destroyed family graves, heavy rainfall and storms that degraded land and trees, and saltwater intrusion on Masig Island that killed coconut trees used for traditional diet.
• The petition is a landmark case as it is the first climate change legal action in Australia based on human rights violations and the first legal action filed with a UN body by low-lying island inhabitants against a national government for climate inaction.
• The Committee ordered Australia to provide compensation for harm suffered, conduct meaningful consultations with the communities to assess needs, and implement measures to ensure the safe existence of the communities on their islands.

APA

Danjelle (2022). Daniel Billy and Others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders Petition). Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/international-courts/daniel-billy-and-others-v-australia-torres-strait-islanders-petition

Chicago

Danjelle. Daniel Billy and Others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders Petition). Centre for Environmental Rights, 2022. https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/international-courts/daniel-billy-and-others-v-australia-torres-strait-islanders-petition.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Danjelle |title=Daniel Billy and Others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders Petition) |publisher=Centre for Environmental Rights |date=21 July 2022 |url=https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/international-courts/daniel-billy-and-others-v-australia-torres-strait-islanders-petition |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{danjelle2022daniel, author = {Danjelle}, title = {{Daniel Billy and Others v Australia (Torres Strait Islanders Petition)}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2022}, month = jul, url = {https://cer.org.za/virtual-library/judgments/international-courts/daniel-billy-and-others-v-australia-torres-strait-islanders-petition}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }