Thunderstorms in April? Shocked by the resultant flooding that affects the lives and livelihoods of communities across Trinidad? Many people have been caught off guard by these unprecedented weather patterns, but should we really be shocked? “No”, according to Nesha Abiraj, we shouldn’t be, as “the intense impact of the global community’s abuse of the climate has caused these weather patterns,” such as extreme rainfall and flooding. (Slight editing)
Abiraj is a Trinidadian-born international human rights lawyer based in the United States of America, and an ambassador for Stop Ecocide. She has devoted much of her career to taking urgent action to combat the climate crisis. Abiraj suggested that the climate crisis is no longer looming, it is here. In her words, “all our efforts in other fields–whether in healthcare, law, agriculture–none of them will matter if our lives and livelihoods are endangered and destroyed by the climate crisis.” Abiraj, however, did not begin her work as a climate advocate, but as an attorney and an advocate for women and children, and continues to live a life in service to community, country and the environment.
Abiraj was born in St James, and grew up in San Juan with her family. As we spoke, she continued to make reference to her roots, expressing that her early childhood and young professional experiences shaped her and the work that she now pursues relentlessly. She remembered her grandmothers as advocates in the community, “providing safe houses for victims of domestic violence, and a plate of food for anyone who needed it.” These early experiences of witnessing compassion and care for the community struck a chord in her, as she said it “lit a match,” and she decided to pursue law to defend people without means and access to justice.
Abiraj began her professional career as a family lawyer and spoke of a pivotal experience that nudged her towards advocating for women. During an interview conducted by a hiring firm, the partner said “all young female attorneys are the same, you join the firm, use the resources and then leave to be wives, mothers, and homemakers.” Although that firm offered her a high-paying job, “I chose not to take it because the misogyny expressed was violently against my personal ethos.”
She is now embedded in a small pool of highly successful and sought after international human rights lawyers.
After completing her LLB at the University of London, she pursued an LLM in international human rights law at Northwestern University. She has worked extensively on human rights policies related to the rights of women and children, and on global health.
The first person from Trinidad and Tobago to be awarded the Citation of the Commonwealth, Abiraj received a signed letter of thanks from then US president Barack Obama for her humanitarian work, and was featured as one of the top 100 Women who Win globally.
Speaking to Abiraj, it was clear that she is not defined by her accolades, but remains driven by a deep-seated commitment to the service of humanity.
Working with women and victims of domestic violence has been a major element of her career. According to Abiraj, “the prevalence of domestic violence has not reduced or disappeared since leaving Trinidad in 2017,” when she was writing hundreds of domestic violence protection orders.
Asked how we disrupt this pervasive ill of domestic violence, she suggested we attack the problem from the community level and “train community groups (such as Rotary clubs), leaders of faith-based organisations, doctors and safeguards of communities to identify victims of domestic violence, and create a reporting mechanism where women can receive help without fear of backlash.”
Crucially, she suggested that encouraging men to join the fight and speak out against perpetrators encourages a “cultural shift.” A whole-of society approach places domestic violence at the forefront, as an infectious illness destroying families and communities.
Abiraj spoke about the interconnectedness of domestic violence, health, and the environment, giving an example that the degradation of the environment leads to an increase in vector-borne diseases, overwhelming our healthcare systems. In her opinion, because of this interconnectedness of humanitarian issues, “whether we like it or not, we’re all in this together.” Therefore, the onus is on us all to fight against climate change.
At present, Abiraj works in the US, and is a strong advocate for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a group of countries with special circumstances, to which Caribbean countries (among others) belong. As a Small Island ambassador, she said that “although the small island nations contribute the least to carbon emissions, we stand disproportionately to suffer the most.” Rising sea levels and warming of our oceans will significantly increase coastal erosion, flooding and permanent land submersion. If the trajectory continues, many islands will be underwater in the coming years. She described the need for policymakers to work collaboratively and “project our voices together as a Caricom region on the international stage,” and the need for the International Criminal Court to embed ecocide as a crime against humanity.
Prompted to explain how ordinary citizens could make an impact, Abiraj called us all to action, highlighting that “no efforts are too minor.” She said that there was so much power in the simplicity of educating ourselves and those around us about climate change. Abiraj encourages young people to advocate at secondary school level, and create or join environmental clubs with like-minded people to raise awareness. At a university level, she encourages those in the environmental field to engage with peers in other fields on how the impact of the climate’s degradation will leave no one unscathed. Calling on corporations to account for their use of resources and lobbying the Government are other impactful ways we can contribute.
Abiraj is a trailblazer–and the best kind of trailblazer. Her passion for her work shone through at every juncture. She does not only seek to look ahead, but also looks behind to see who she can support and elevate. A word that she consistently used when asked about how she seeks to make an impact was “community”. She encourages community-based solutions to every social ill, and people-centric approaches to humanitarian problems plaguing us as a global village. According to Abiraj, “the most powerful work we can do is to use the power and strength of our communities to create, uplift and support each other–not to compete.”
Fayola Fraser is a young professional working in the international development arena, with an MSc in International Relations & Development and a BA in Middle Eastern & Latin American Studies.
