Reflections on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ Advisory Opinion on Human Rights and the Environment and the Notion of Extraterritorial Jurisdiction

This article examines the 2017 Inter-American Court of Human Rights advisory opinion on human rights and the environment to discuss the extraterritorial jurisdictional link developed by the Court. The article argues that this is a new jurisdictional link finding origin and justification in the recent practice of other international human rights bodies aimed at progressively enlarging the scope of states’ positive obligations to protect human rights. The article discusses these developments and flags some of the concerns arising from this new extraterritorial jurisdictional model.