Human Rights

Ideally, human rights exist independently of any state regime but, in truth, have little effect if not allocated on the basis of membership of at least some community, state or otherwise. Without such claims to membership and the assignment of duties to specific agents to fulfil rights to a safe environment, to health, life and security of person, there is no binding obligation on authorities to provide all climate vulnerable peoples with the means to survive ecological adversity. Although of immense humanitarian importance in a context of declining resources worldwide, universal rights to health and a dignified existence still await further social realization. This chapter assesses how tensions arising between the ideal and the real social life of rights today, set against a background of accelerating climate crisis, are being addressed via new democratic struggles.