Advisory Opinion 32 of 2025: Climate Emergency and Human Rights. What’s Next?

Background & Rationale

On 3 July, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued Advisory Opinion 32 of 2025 on the climate emergency and human rights. This decision marks a significant milestone in the development of international law. The IACtHR recognises the importance of a systemic and intersectional approach that connects climate action with the protection of ecosystems, biodiversity, and the rights of environmental and human rights defenders.

This Advisory Opinion, requested by Chile and Colombia, advances a comprehensive normative framework that builds on, and interacts with, earlier jurisprudence from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) as well as the ongoing advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Advisory Opinions are progressing the agenda on climate action more noticeably than contentious proceedings. It is important to reflect on how regional and national institutions – including courts, national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and civil society – can support the agenda to advance climate justice and Earth stewardship.

Conveners

The Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE) is organizing this round table, supported by the following partners:  The Biodiversa + Defend Bio project, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI), the ERC Curiae Virides project (Brussels School of Governance – Vrije Universiteit Brussel), University of the West Indies, Cave Hill (Barbados), Universidad del Rosario (Colombia), SEVEN (Universiteit van Amsterdam) and the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI).

Objectives

The roundtable's objective is to provide a forum for reflection on the various themes that have emerged in the wake of the adoption of AO 32 of 2025. Some of these themes are:

• The legal and practical implications of Advisory Opinion 32/25 for climate change but also for other environmental impacts such as biodiversity loss.

• The potential of Advisory Opinions to transform the global governance of climate action and the regional perspectives, particularly from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Pacific.

• The next steps that are needed to turn advisory opinions into meaningful action from states and international organizations.

• Collaboration across regions, among institutions working toward climate justice, healthy ecosystems, and biodiversity protection.

• The recognition of the crucial role of environmental and human rights defenders in addressing transnational environmental challenges.

Moderators:

• Claudia Ituarte‑Lima 

Director, GNHRE & Senior Researcher, Raoul Wallenberg Institute

• Liliana Lizarazo-Rodriguez 

Deputy Director, GNHRE & Research Professor, Brussels School of Governance – Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Roundtable Speakers

• María Teresa Infante Caffi

  Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and professor at the Faculty of Law and of the Institute of International Studies, University of Chile.

• Margaretha Wewerinke‑Singh 

  Associate Professor of Law at the University of Amsterdam, Adjunct Professor at the University of Fiji and a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. She practices from Blue Ocean Law, a boutique international law firm located in Guam. She is also the Deputy Director of Europe at the GNHRE. She served as lead counsel for Vanuatu in climate proceedings before the International Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, leading a diverse team alongside Julian Aguon. 

• Ricardo Abello Galvis 

  Professor at Universidad del Rosario (Colombia). Previously he was member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (2014 – 2019).

• Alana Lancaster 

  Lecturer in International Environmental & Energy Law, at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill and member of the Executive Team of the One Ocean Hub. She is the Director of the Caribbean at the GNHRE.

• Wycliffe Amakobe

  Climate Change/Climate Justice Lead at Network of Africa National Human Rights Institutions (Human Rights Commissions across African States) in Africa).  

Concluding remarks by the moderators

Contact

claudia.ituarte-lima@rwi.lu.se and liliana.lizarazo.rodriguez@vub.be

Image source: Inter-American Court of Human Rights. https://corteidh.or.cr/historia.cfm?lang=pt Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.