Articles for category: AAA General

The Bloom of Nature’s Rights

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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ (IACtHR) advisory opinion on human rights and the climate emergency (AO-32/25) addresses numerous dimensions of the climate crisis, setting an important precedent for the protection of our planet. This post focuses on one particularly significant development: the IACtHR’s recognition of Nature as a subject of rights. We argue that the IACtHR’s pronouncements on this subject mark the advent of an ecocentric paradigm whose implications are likely to be far-reaching and transformative. 

18. Juli 2025

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Quantifying Fair Share Carbon Budgets

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An obligation to quantify each country’s fair share of the remaining global carbon budget associated with limiting global heating to 1.5°C flows from the judgment in KlimaSeniorinnen. While there will naturally be debate about what represents a country’s fair share – the EU’s independent advisory body ESAB recently considered a range of fair share principles and concluded that the EU’s fair share has already been used up under many of these – the obligation to quantify fair share budgets should, in our view, be the subject of a reduced margin of appreciation consistent with KlimaSeniorinnen.

18. Juli 2025

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Copyright, AI, and the Future of Internet Search before the CJEU

With Like Company v Google, the first groundbreaking AI copyright case is now headed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In this case, a Hungarian press publisher challenges Google and its Gemini chatbot for reproducing and communicating its editorial content without authorisation. The Court’s decision will establish the legal framework for AI’s relationship with copyright and press publishers’ rights across the EU. It will potentially reshape how generative AI systems can or cannot lawfully access, process and reproduce journalistic and other protected content. This may even fundamentally affect the economic and technical architecture of future AI development.

17. Juli 2025

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A Nod, Not a Leap

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This post focuses on one notable aspect of AO-32/25 that has not received attention in other commentary–the IACtHR’s engagement with gender issues. We find that the IACtHR has taken an important step forward, both in recognizing gender as a key determinant of climate vulnerability and in identifying gender-responsive obligations on States. However, the IACtHR’s comments in this regard remain general and often gestural. The obligations identified are limited, narrow, and many relate to data gathering rather than substantial action.

17. Juli 2025

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The GPAI Code of Practice

On 10 July 2025, the European Commission published the final version of its Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI (GPAI) – a voluntary rulebook developed by a group of independent experts and more than 1,400 stakeholders from industry, academia, civil society, and rightsholders. The Code is meant to prepare providers for what’s ahead: it offers a straightforward way to start complying with future obligations under the AI Act. Its success will ultimately depend on whether it manages to reduce compliance burdens and provide legal certainty. Even if not universally adopted, it could still serve as a regulatory benchmark under the AI Act.

16. Juli 2025

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Jus Cogens and the Climate Crisis

While there are many aspects of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)’s Advisory Opinion 32/25 (AO-32/25) that are new and groundbreaking, the inclusion of a reflection on jus cogens might have surprised some observers. The legal consequences of the recognition as jus cogens of the obligation not to create irreversible damage to the climate and the global environment are profound. Treaties violating the norm are void, customary international law rules cannot exist, nor does the persistent objector rule apply.

16. Juli 2025

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Independence as a Desideratum

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A recent report claiming that EU tech regulation has entered the ongoing trade negotiations with the U.S. has sparked fears that enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) might be halted altogether. Although the DSA only came into full effect in February 2024, the European Commission’s subsequent enforcement has already showcased conflicts regarding its role as an autonomous political and administrative enforcement body. Considering the potential impact of the DSA on online communication, the Commission’s current role in DSA enforcement raises serious concerns. This calls for a search for alternative models of DSA enforcement. Three options present themselves.

16. Juli 2025

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The Right to a Healthy Environment as a Catalyst for Urgent and Ambitious Climate Action at the IACtHR

The right to a healthy environment is at the heart of the landmark Advisory Opinion 32/25 (AO-32/25) on the climate emergency from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). AO-32/25 marks the clearest ruling to date from an international court on the urgency of transformative changes to address the existential threat of the planetary environmental emergency caused by human activities.

15. Juli 2025

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The End of an (Unlawful) Era

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On June 17th, the Danish Supreme Court delivered an important judgement concerning the principle of non-penalization of refugees, ending decades of unlawful prosecutorial practices. A closer reading points to longstanding deficiencies in informing asylum seekers of their rights during the procedure. Moreover, questions remain regarding the interpretation of Article 31 for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection.

15. Juli 2025

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Turkey’s Gerontocratic Constitutional Moment

In less than a year, Turkish politics has undergone a profound realignment. It began in October 2024 with a remarkable speech by Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and President Erdoğan’s chief coalition partner. In one of the most cryptic U-turns of his career, Bahçeli—long a hardliner on the Kurdish question—proposed reopening the long-frozen peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the separatist armed group that has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. In short, the tectonic plates of Turkish politics are shifting, and at the center of this transition stands a cast of aging men, each well past seventy.

14. Juli 2025

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