Book contents
- When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law 172
- When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Introduction
- Part I Constructing Synergies: Framing the Environment–Human Rights Interface
- Part II Conflict Mediation through Universalisation
- 5 The General Interest as Universalisation Strategy
- 6 Expert Knowledge as Universalisation Strategy
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
6 - Expert Knowledge as Universalisation Strategy
from Part II - Conflict Mediation through Universalisation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2022
- When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law 172
- When Environmental Protection and Human Rights Collide
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Table of Cases
- Introduction
- Part I Constructing Synergies: Framing the Environment–Human Rights Interface
- Part II Conflict Mediation through Universalisation
- 5 The General Interest as Universalisation Strategy
- 6 Expert Knowledge as Universalisation Strategy
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law
Summary
This chapter turns to the second ‘universalisation strategy’ developed by courts to conceal legal indeterminacy when environmental protection and human rights collide. It shows how courts rely on the authority and supposed objectivity of experts when interpreting conflicts and justifying their decisions. The argument unfolds in two parts. The first part analyses the role played by scientific experts in cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union. It critically assesses this expert-based managerial approach to conflict adjudication and highlights the risk of obstructing the protection of certain rights that do not fit a particular epistemic framework. The second part analyses the role played by specialised human rights experts in regional human rights courts in cases concerning Indigenous peoples and cultural minorities. A network of experts with particular institutional ties gets involved in such cases. These experts share a specific (legal) vocabulary and imaginary when speaking on behalf of the applicants, which courts replicate through cross-jurisdictional and cross-cultural referencing. This essentialises certain ways of living determined by artificial binaries of ‘traditional’ versus ‘modern’. What emerges is an empirically rich understanding of regional human rights courts’ reliance on specialised expertise with both bright and dark sides.
Keywords
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- Information
- When Environmental Protection and Human Rights CollideThe Politics of Conflict Management by Regional Courts, pp. 180 - 240Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022