September 9th, 2021

Climatizing Human Rights: Economic and Social Rights for the Anthropocene

César Rodríguez-Garavito

The climate emergency poses an existential challenge to the human rights project. If human rights are to remain relevant in the Anthropocene, budding theoretical, doctrinal, and advocacy efforts to address the climate emergency need to be deepened and expanded. The task of urgently advancing climate action through rights-based norms, frames and tactics is called “climatizing” human rights in this paper. In this paper, Rodríguez-Garavito focuses on economic and social rights (ESRs) and proposes two avenues for the climatization of ESRs. Climatizing ESRs through these two avenues would ensure there is a vast space for human activities that are productive, equitable, regenerative, and respectful of future generations and the planet.