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Heat Waves Are Killing Older Women. Are They Also Violating Their Rights?

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A group of Swiss women over 64 has filed a lawsuit against Switzerland with Europe's top human rights court, saying the country has violated their rights by failing to curb emissions.

Members of KlimaSeniorinnen, or Senior Women for Climate Protection, in 2020 with Marie Toussaint, third from right, a French environmental activist and member of the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France.Credit...Georgios Kefalas/EPA, via Shutterstock

Published Aug. 6, 2023Updated Aug. 7, 2023

The women live scattered around Switzerland, speak a mix of the country's languages — German, French and Italian — and have worked in varying professions.

But the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, a group of about 2,400 Swiss women aged 64 and over, say they have a common fear: soaring temperatures and heat waves that are threatening them with health ailments in their final decades.

"It is difficult to go outside — it is difficult to breathe," said Fatima Heussler, 71, a member of the group who lives in Zurich, who retired after several decades of working with visually impaired older people. Last year's summer heat was so tiring, she said she could not do even light household chores.

"I feel like I need to protect myself," said Isabelle Joerg, 70, a former insurance risk manager and a member of the group from Basel, who says she sits in the dark with the blinds drawn at her home on particularly hot days. "I used to love summer — and now I can be threatened by it."

A heat wave this summer that sent temperatures soaring in southern Europe has highlighted those concerns — along with a landmark lawsuit that the women filed in 2020 at Europe's top human rights court accusing the Swiss government of violating their fundamental rights by not doing enough to protect them from the effects of climate change.

Image

Firefighters in Greece battling a wildfire in July. A heat wave this summer that sent temperatures soaring in southern Europe has highlighted the concerns of climate activists.Credit...Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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