A country of fertile, densely populated deltas, low-lying Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable nations in the world to climate change.

But the urgency of the situation is not being matched by actions of countries responsible for emissions, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said.

"They don't act. They can talk but they don't act," she told AFP on a visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

"The rich countries, the developed countries, this is their responsibility. They should come forward. But we are not getting that much response from them. That is the tragedy," she said.

"I know the rich countries, they want to become more rich and rich. They don't bother for others."

Bangladesh has produced a miniscule amount of the greenhouse gas emissions that have already contributed to the warming of the planet by an average of nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The Paris accord called for $100 billion a year by 2020 from wealthy nations to help developing nations cope with climate change. That year, $83.3 billion was committed, including through private sources, according to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development figures.

One key issue facing the next UN climate summit, to take place in Egypt in November, is whether wealthy nations also need to pay for losses and damages from climate change -- not just to pay for adaptation and mitigation.

"We want that fund to be raised. Unfortunately we didn't get a good response from the developed countries," Hasina said.

"Because they are the responsible ones for these damages, they should come forward," the 74-year-old added.

Wealthy nations have agreed only to discuss the loss and damage issue through 2024.

This year's General Assembly featured repeated calls for climate justice. The leader of tiny Vanuatu urged an international treaty against fossil fuels while the prime minister of Pakistan warned that floods that have swamped one-third of his country could happen elsewhere.

- Questions on Rohingya -

Climate is not the only issue on which Bangladesh sees inaction from the West.

Some 750,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after a scorched-earth campaign against the minority group by troops in neighboring Myanmar, a campaign that the United States has described as genocide.

While the world has saluted Bangladesh for taking in the refugees -- along with 100,000 who fled earlier violence -- attention has shifted since the Covid-19 pandemic and now Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"As long as they are in our country, we feel that it is our duty," she said. But for Bangladeshi hosts, patience is running thin, she said.

Michelle Bachelet, then the UN human rights chief, said on a visit in August that there was growing anti-Rohingya sentiment in Bangladesh.

"Local people also suffer a lot," Hasina said. "I can't say that they're angry, but they feel uncomfortable."

"All the burden is coming upon us. This is a problem."

The Rohingya refugees, who are mostly Muslim, live largely in ramshackle camps with tarpaulins, sheet metal and bamboo.

Bachelet on her visit said there was no prospect of sending them back to Buddhist-majority, military-run Myanmar, where the Rohingya are not considered citizens.

But in her interview, Hasina signaled that there were few options other than for the Rohingya to reside in camps.

"It is not possible for us to give them an open space because they have their own country. They want to go back there. So that is the main priority for everybody," Hasina said.

"If anybody wants to take them, they can take them," she added. "Why should I object?"

Australia climate change failings violated indigenous rights: UN committee
Geneva (AFP) Sept 25, 2022 - Australia violated the rights of indigenous people by failing to adequately protect them against the effects of climate change, a United Nations watchdog has ruled, ordering Canberra to pay compensation.

In a ground-breaking decision, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled in favour of indigenous Torres Islanders who had filed a complaint against Australia over its failure to adapt to climate change.

The Islanders had pointed to measures such as failure to upgrade seawalls on their islands or to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

"Australia's failure to adequately protect indigenous Torres Islanders against adverse impacts of climate change violated their rights to enjoy their culture and be free from arbitrary interferences with their private life, family and home," the committee said in its decision issued on Friday.

Eight Australian nationals and six of their children -- all indigenous inhabitants of Boigu, Poruma, Warraber and Masig, four small, low-lying islands in Australia's Torres Strait region -- filed the complaint in 2019.

They claimed that changes in weather patterns had direct harmful consequences on their livelihood, culture and traditional way of life.

Severe flooding had destroyed family graves and left human remains scattered across their islands, they said.

They also argued that the changing climate, with heavy rainfall and storms, had degraded the land and trees, reducing the amount of food available from traditional fishing and farming.

- Islands could 'disappear' -

"Advancing seas are already threatening homes, as well as damaging burial grounds and sacred cultural sites," the claimants said when they filed their complaint.

"Many Islanders are worried that their islands could quite literally disappear in their lifetimes without urgent action."

The committee, whose 18 independent experts are tasked with monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, found that Australia had violated two articles of the convention in the case.

Taking account of the islanders' close, spiritual connection with their traditional lands, it questioned "the delay in seawall construction" on their islands and ruled that Australia's failure to take timely and adequate measures to protect them had led to the violation of their rights.

The committee, whose opinions and recommendations are non-binding but carry reputational weight, called on Australia to "make full reparation to individuals whose Covenant rights have been violated."

The country, it said, should "provide adequate compensation (to the islanders) for the harm that they have suffered" and should also "engage in meaningful consultations... to conduct needs assessment".

It should also implement the measures needed to "secure the communities' continued safe existence on their respective islands", it said.

In the ruling, the committee listed a number of arguments by Australia, including that climate change was a global phenomenon attributable to the actions of many states and requires global action.

The decision could have implications for other countries as well.

"The Committee has created a pathway for individuals to assert claims where national systems have failed to take appropriate measures to protect those most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of their human rights," committee member Helene Tigroudja said in a statement.

"States that fail to protect individuals under their jurisdiction from the adverse effects of climate change may be violating their human rights under international law," she added.

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