ABSTRACT

The scope of our human rights obligations should be understood in the light of their constitutional presuppositions and constitutional implications. International human rights commitments presuppose an international society committed to sustainable projection into the future; international human rights laws also imply far-reaching constitutional consequences for states that outstrip minimal humanitarian obligations and concern good distribution of power between the domestic and the international. This chapter seeks to show that successfully articulating the demands of future generations requires combining an understanding of existing human rights law with these kinds of concerns for the international constitutional context of human rights.