Can human rights law overcome political inaction?

The authors contend that human rights law is often underutilised or dismissed as unfit for contemporary challenges because it is viewed primarily as a tool for individual protection against state interference. They argue for a shift toward recognizing 'positive obligations'—the duty of states to actively protect rights—to address collective crises. By citing climate litigation in the Netherlands, Ireland, and France, as well as food security cases in India, the text demonstrates how legal frameworks can hold governments accountable for failing to meet their obligations, thereby bridging the gap between political aspiration and concrete action.

• Human rights law is frequently limited by a narrow conception of the 'individual' as an autonomous entity, which ignores the social constructions and interconnected systems that determine wellbeing and necessitate collective action.
• A critical distinction in human rights law is the dichotomy between negative obligations (restraining state interference) and positive obligations (requiring the state to take active measures to protect rights). The authors argue that neglecting the positive function leads to a disregard for collective protection in the face of climate change and health crises.
• Governments often use the 'separation of powers' argument to claim that issues with far-reaching consequences are the sole domain of the political executive and outside the jurisdiction of courts, creating a 'bubble of unaccountability'.
• National court cases demonstrate that the law can overcome political stagnation by requiring governments to honor commitments and provide specific, non-vague policies. Examples include the Urgenda case in the Netherlands, where the court found the state violating the law by not meeting emission reduction obligations, and cases in Ireland and France regarding the Paris Agreement.
• In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, a comprehensive understanding of human rights allows states to balance the positive obligation to protect the collective right to health against the negative duty to respect individual freedoms, such as freedom of movement.

APA

Atalay, S., & Smith, M. G. M. (2021). Can human rights law overcome political inaction? Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/can-human-rights-law-overcome-political-inaction/

Chicago

Atalay, Serde, and Michael George Marcondes Smith. Can human rights law overcome political inaction? Green European Journal, 2021. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/can-human-rights-law-overcome-political-inaction/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Atalay |first1=Serde |last2=Smith |first2=Michael George Marcondes |title=Can human rights law overcome political inaction? |publisher=Green European Journal |date=9 April 2021 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/can-human-rights-law-overcome-political-inaction/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{atalay2021can, author = {Atalay, Serde and Smith, Michael George Marcondes}, title = {{Can human rights law overcome political inaction?}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2021}, month = apr, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/can-human-rights-law-overcome-political-inaction/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }