[Recap] WCL hosts panel on Climate Change Opinions of the International Court of Justice and Inter-American Court of Human Rights
By: Michael Culbert
The conjunction of human rights and climate change was first brought up at Buenos Aires Climate Change Conference in 2004 and laughed at as a realistic framework… well “no one is laughing now.”1 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) both took steps this July to protect the rights of humans in the face of environmental degradation from climate change. The ICJ ruled that states have an obligation “to protect the environment from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”2 and the IACHR issued an opinion that seeks to guide states in passing progressive legislation to protect the human rights to life and environment.3
Washington College of Law Professors de Windt Vincente, Orellana, and Bertoni held a panel on Thursday, hosted by the Sustainable Development Law and Policy Brief, to discuss these two decisions. Panelists mentioned that whatever the IACHR opines, the realities of what a country has the feasible resources to provide is relative, both in terms of diagnosing harm as well as rectifying it. Not all states have the same support apparatus in place to identify human rights abuses. What the IACHR is advancing is the assertion that states need to integrate climate legislation into their domestic laws, and giving them a tool to approach legislation. International law only goes as far as inter-state enforcement activities but it does little to empower citizens to hold their own, or other, governments accountable to upholding human rights.
The ICJ approaches the right to protection from climate change as a right to a healthy environment framework, which some argue is robust enough to uphold both rights. Adjudication does not come easily. The panelists discussed that some states, and ideological economic systems, see any strong environmental regulation as an existential threat. Regardless, both courts’ decisions represent progress toward recognizing the seriousness of climate change as a threat to the basic needs of human existence and a legal framework to address the potential damage done to human lives.
[1] Orellana, M. (2025, August). Reflecting on the Climate Change Opinions of the International Court of Justice and Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Lecture.
[2] United Nations. (2025, July 23). World Court says countries are legally obligated to curb emissions, protect climate | UN news. United Nations. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165475
[3] United Nations Human Rights. (2025, July 11). UN experts hail landmark Inter-American Court Opinion on states’ extensive duties to protect the climate | ohchr. UN experts hail landmark Inter-American Court opinion on States’ extensive duties to protect the climate. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/un-experts-hail-landmark-inter-american-court-opinion-states-extensive
