HUMAN MOBILITY IN CLIMATE LITIGATION: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LATIN AMERICA UNDER A HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE [LA MOVILIDAD HUMANA EN LOS LITIGIOS CLIMÁTICOS: APORTES DE AMÉRICA LATINA DESDE LA PERSPECTIVA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS]

Abstract

Latin America is highly exposed to climate change, leading to human mobility patterns. Faced with the lack of specific legal instruments facilitating climate migrants’ protection, human rights-based climate litigation may add to their visibility, as well as address their protection needs. The study aims to investigate how far climate litigation cases in the region deal with the distinct dimensions of human mobility, as well as Latin America’s contribution in terms of human rights arguments. It identifies regional human rights arguments to cope with the current climate crisis that can be raised in litigation cases on the topic, such as the right to a safe climate, the extraterritoriality of human rights obligations and more recently the right not to be forcibly displaced. A categorization of climate litigation addressing the distinct dimensions of human mobility is presented. This categorization is divided according to the degree of consideration of the phenomenon, the type of litigation and the arguments invoked. The study then analyzes specific climate litigation cases associated with human mobility in Latin America and its central arguments. Advances in the consideration of human mobility in climate litigation were noted, as well as Latin America's potential to advance this trend, through new interpretative and argumentative developments and litigation strategies that contextualise human rights in the face of the climate crisis and favour the protection of climate migrants. © 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.