Presentation short abstract

This paper explores how the Inter-American Human Rights System can advance a Just Transition by integrating environmental sustainability, decent work, and social justice into its jurisprudence, resisting extractivist models and ensuring no one is left behind in the climate crisis.

Presentation long abstract

This paper examines the potential of regional human rights systems, particularly the Inter-American System, as normative and institutional arenas of resistance to extractivist models of development. It introduces the concept of a Just Transition, as articulated in the International Labour Organisation’s 2015 Guidelines, which advocate for an integrated approach to environmental sustainability, decent work, and social justice. Central to this framework is the protection of both substantive rights, such as the rights to work, health, and a healthy environment, and procedural rights, including access to information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice. Recent jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, notably in cases concerning workers’ rights and the right to a healthy environment, reflects growing engagement with these principles. Although the Court’s recent Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency (32/25) explicitly refers to the ILO’s Just Transition framework, its reasoning remains fragmented. This paper argues that, despite the piecemeal references, the Court’s existing jurisprudence already embeds several key elements of Just Transition, offering a foundation for further development. By analysing these decisions, the paper demonstrates how the Inter-American Court can play a pivotal role in embedding a Just Transition paradigm within regional human rights law, thereby reinforcing the Court’s mandate to ensure that sustainable development leaves no one, including workers and marginalised communities, behind.