Rendering International Human Rights Law Fit for Purpose on Climate Change

The present article is devoted to addressing the unique legal and operational challenges encountered in the adoption of a human rights-based approach to climate change under international law. It tackles the core questions surrounding the suitability for purpose of the international human rights regime and outlines key steps to be taken in the requisite advancement of recourse to justice in climate matters. Five central challenges are addressed, namely, of the exclusivity of climate law and international human rights law, the operational barriers within the UN human rights system, specific legal challenges facing the UN Treaty Body mechanisms, the causation challenges associated with attributing responsibility for climate harm to states and, finally, the extraterritorial application of international human rights law. The challenges addressed here represent some of the most significant legal and operational hurdles emerging through the literature, international legal discourse and practice which will need to be overcome to respond to the principal research question of this paper, namely, of how international human rights law can better provide recourse to justice to climate-vulnerable states, groups and individuals