Towards 2122 and beyond: Developing the human rights of future generations

On 1 September 1985, I started my career as an Academic Assistant at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University. I was recruited by Kees Flinterman, one of the founding fathers of the Faculty. Soon after that, Kees and Theo van Boven established a Project Group on Human Rights Research. I became a member and, after some time, it was agreed that I should write a PhD thesis on the human right to education, which I defended in 1992. Since then, a lot has happened in the field of human rights law and human rights research. The Maastricht Centre for Human Rights was established in 1993. It became well known for its research on economic, social, and cultural rights, which, at the time, were under-developed, under-researched, and sometimes called the ‘stepchild’ of the human rights family. Already back in 1986, the Limburg Principles on the Nature of State Parties Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights were adopted at an expert meeting in Maastricht to clarify these rights. I attended that meeting as a very junior researcher. From then on, economic, social, and cultural rights never left me. They became the source of inspiration for my own research, many collaborative projects, PhD research by young colleagues, and cooperation with academia and non-governmental organisations. I have always been intrigued by the question of how human rights law can be pushed further, with a view to respond to societal changes and challenges, and contribute to a fairer society. In other words, normative legal research about how the law should develop, de lege ferenda. In this address, I want to reflect on this period since 1985 by highlighting a number of key achievements in the progressive development of the law on economic, social, and cultural rights. Then, I will discuss the latest developments of this ongoing process of pushing the law further, namely the development of the human rights of future generations. When we follow the news, it is abundantly clear that the planet is in crisis. The future of mankind is at stake and facing ongoing, and very serious, threats: climate change, the reduction of potable water supplies, depletion of natural resources, the lack of renewable energy stocks, the risk of