Acadexon

Academic Catalogue of Legal Research

Journal article Open access

Climate Justice on Trial: Role of Nigerian Courts in Connecting the Dots between Climate Change and Violence against Women

By Uju Peace Okeke, Sophia Chukwufumnaya Chima

Law and World · Vol. 11, No. 36, pp. 116-136 · 2025

Access

Visit official source

lawandworld.ge

View full text

Open access

Acadexon indexes bibliographic metadata and links to the publisher. The full text is not stored here, and copyright remains with the authors, publishers or other rights holders.

Abstract

While growing scholarship has increasingly explored the gendered impact of climate change, the legal responses remain under-examined, particularly in Nigeria. Globally, climate change is a topical issue. The cause could be natural or man-made. While natural causes demand adaptation strategies, anthropogenic (man-made) ones require mitigation and accountability. Regardless of origin, it affects men and women but disproportionately burdens women and girls due to its intersection with gender inequality, human rights, and social justice. Consequently, it deepens existing inequalities and results in climate injustice. This worsens women’s gender-driven bad situation, making it a form of violence against women (VAW). Nigeria has signed agreements on climate change and human rights, which are expected to be reflected in domestic laws. The question is whether these recognize the peculiarities of women and consider climate injustice as VAW. This work examines the possibility of considering gender climate injustice as VAW and the role of courts in redressing it. It employs doctrinal research methodology from analytical, expository, and normative approaches, relying on primary and secondary sources of data. It found that the extant climate change laws are insufficient and neither gendered nor related to violence, leaving the courts to purposively connect the dots. To achieve substantive justice, it recommends that the courts must embrace the doctrine of ‘implicitly guaranteed rights’, enunciated by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the case of SERAC and Another v Nigeria. Nigerian courts have a critical role in ensuring climate justice by interpreting laws to bridge the gap between environmental harm and its gendered consequences.

Details

Publication type
Journal article
Author
Journal
Law and World
Publication
December 30, 2025
Volume
11
Issue
36
Pages
116-136
Language
English
DOI
10.36475/11.4.6
ISSN
2346-7916
Institutions
University of Nigeria, Delta State University
Access
Open access
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Added to catalogue
Metadata source
Supplied by the publisher

Areas of law

International Human Rights Law

Keywords

Climate change climate injustice human rights courts violence against women

Cite this record

Okeke, U. P., & Chima, S. C. (2025). Climate Justice on Trial: Role of Nigerian Courts in Connecting the Dots between Climate Change and Violence against Women. Law and World, 11(36), 116-136. https://doi.org/10.36475/11.4.6
Okeke, Uju Peace and Sophia Chukwufumnaya Chima. "Climate Justice on Trial: Role of Nigerian Courts in Connecting the Dots between Climate Change and Violence against Women." Law and World 11, no. 36 (2025): 116-136. https://doi.org/10.36475/11.4.6.
@article{okeke2025_c9aq8f,
  title     = {Climate Justice on Trial: Role of Nigerian Courts in Connecting the Dots between Climate Change and Violence against Women},
  author    = {Okeke, Uju Peace and Chima, Sophia Chukwufumnaya},
  year      = {2025},
  journal   = {Law and World},
  volume    = {11},
  number    = {36},
  pages     = {116--136},
  doi       = {10.36475/11.4.6},
  issn      = {2346-7916},
  language  = {en},
  url       = {https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/921},
  note      = {Open access}
}
Download BibTeX 
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Okeke, Uju Peace
AU  - Chima, Sophia Chukwufumnaya
TI  - Climate Justice on Trial: Role of Nigerian Courts in Connecting the Dots between Climate Change and Violence against Women
PY  - 2025
JO  - Law and World
VL  - 11
IS  - 36
SN  - 2346-7916
DO  - 10.36475/11.4.6
LA  - en
UR  - https://lawandworld.ge/index.php/law/article/view/921
AB  - While growing scholarship has increasingly explored the gendered impact of climate change, the legal responses remain under-examined, particularly in Nigeria. Globally, climate change is a topical issue. The cause could be natural or man-made. While natural causes demand adaptation strategies, anthropogenic (man-made) ones require mitigation and accountability. Regardless of origin, it affects men and women but disproportionately burdens women and girls due to its intersection with gender inequality, human rights, and social justice. Consequently, it deepens existing inequalities and results in climate injustice. This worsens women’s gender-driven bad situation, making it a form of violence against women (VAW). Nigeria has signed agreements on climate change and human rights, which are expected to be reflected in domestic laws. The question is whether these recognize the peculiarities of women and consider climate injustice as VAW. This work examines the possibility of considering gender climate injustice as VAW and the role of courts in redressing it. It employs doctrinal research methodology from analytical, expository, and normative approaches, relying on primary and secondary sources of data. It found that the extant climate change laws are insufficient and neither gendered nor related to violence, leaving the courts to purposively connect the dots. To achieve substantive justice, it recommends that the courts must embrace the doctrine of ‘implicitly guaranteed rights’, enunciated by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the case of SERAC and Another v Nigeria. Nigerian courts have a critical role in ensuring climate justice by interpreting laws to bridge the gap between environmental harm and its gendered consequences.
KW  - Climate change
KW  - climate injustice
KW  - human rights
KW  - courts
KW  - violence against women
KW  - კლიმატის ცვლილება
KW  - კლიმატური უსამართლობა
KW  - ადამიანის უფლებები
KW  - სასამართლოები
KW  - ქალთა მიმართ ძალადობა
SP  - 116
EP  - 136
ER  -
Download RIS

Generated from the metadata stored in this record. Please verify against the published version before citing.

Related research

Discussion

No comments yet · Comments are discussion only. They do not change the bibliographic record.

Sign in to join the discussion.

No comments yet. Start the discussion.