Jumping on the Human Rights Bandwagon: How Rights-based Linkages Can Refocus Climate Politics

Simon Nicholson and Daniel Chong
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Simon Nicholson: Simon Nicholson is an Assistant Professor of International Relations in the School of International Service at American University. His work focuses on the global politics of food and agriculture, and on the governance of emerging technologies.
Daniel Chong: Daniel Chong is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. His research focuses on the application of human rights principles and methodologies to non-traditional issues, such as poverty and climate change. He has published articles in Development and Change and Human Rights Review, and is author of Freedom from Poverty: NGOs and Human Rights Praxis (2010).

Global Environmental Politics, 2011, vol. 11, issue 3, 121-136

Abstract: This paper makes a normative argument for the greater strategic utilization of human rights institutions, practices, and discourses by those seeking a robust response to climate change. Bandwagoning between these two regimes is hardly a new thing. The environmental movement has long looked to the human rights movement for ideas and support, and vice versa. Here, we argue that there is potential for even more explicit bandwagoning in ways that will most directly benefit those who are suffering, and will continue to suffer, from climate change's greatest impacts. The human rights framework offers a guide to more effective climate action via two interconnected arenas: a legal arena that provides an established set of tools for climate activists, and a political arena that provides a normative underpinning for a range of judicial and non-judicial actions in support of ‘climate justice.’ Ultimately, moral and strategic guidance from the human rights movement points the way to a more equitable and enduring climate politics, with fairness at its heart. © 2011 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Date: 2011
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