Inter-American System of Human Rights

16 posts

Shared blame, shared bill? Joint and several State liability as a proposed legal framework for climate reparations

As climate litigation continues to rise, a pivotal and unresolved legal question emerges in the law of State responsibility: how to allocate responsibility for injuries that result from the cumulative conduct of multiple actors.  Climate-related injury derives from the aggregate and diffuse effect of anthropogenic activities, as well as natural […]

From Sidelines to Center Stage: Conferences of the Parties (COPs) as Legal Playmakers

  The trilogy of climate advisory opinions from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) marks a watershed moment not only for climate litigation but also for understanding the evolving role of Conferences of […]

A Right to Defend the Environment: Legal Protection for Environmental Advocacy in the IACtHR’s Climate Advisory Opinion

As the world faces an escalating triple planetary crisis  – climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – those who step forward to defend the environment are increasingly stigmatized, criminalized, and subjected to violence. Nowhere is this threat more acute than in Latin America, which accounts for nearly 80% of all […]

Epistemic Authority and the Right to Science in AO-32/25: Legal Foundations for the Integration of Traditional Knowledge in the Inter-American System

Among the various legal instruments aimed at protecting human rights in the face of the climate emergency, few require as much interpretative effort as the right to science. Traditionally situated within the realm of programmatic obligations and often associated with promoting technical progress and disseminating scientific information, this right has occupied a […]

Enhanced Due Diligence: A New Legal Standard for Climate Action in the Inter-American System

Advisory Opinion 32/25 (AO-32/25)  of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) marks a turning point in the interpretation of international human rights law in relation to climate change. In AO-32/25, the IACtHR recognizes that the world is facing a genuine climate emergency and affirms that this situation demands an […]

Corporations, Climate, and the Court: New Directions for Business and Human Rights in AO-32/25

Corporations, especially those engaged in fossil fuel production, agriculture, construction, and transportation, play a significant role in the climate crisis and in its human rights impacts. Holding businesses responsible for their human rights and environmental harms has been a perennial challenge that has become increasingly acute in the climate crisis. […]

Protecting Rights in the Anthropocene: How the Inter‑American Court’s Right to a Healthy Climate Pushes the Boundaries of Human Rights Law

On July 3, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued its long-awaited Advisory Opinion No. 32 (AO-32/25) on the “Climate Emergency and Human Rights” (the official English translation can be found here; for an overview of the decision’s key elements, see here). A broad group of States, communities, […]

Addressing Accountability in the IACtHR’s Advisory Opinion: The Question of Reparation and Loss and Damage 

On July 3, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) delivered a historic advisory opinion regarding States’ obligations in relation to the climate crisis (AO-32/25). The IACtHR was particularly articulate in qualifying States’ obligations under the right to a healthy environment as having a jus cogens nature (paras. 287ff), […]