How can we think time and its relation to international human rights law in a more radical way?

What is it about?

This article aims to address critics of international human rights who argue that these rights are no longer of use today. In order to retain a use for rights - in particular for those interested in radical social change - I argue that we can rethink the relationship between this area of law and time. Drawing from feminist philosophy, I explore an idea of international human rights law as untimely. In other words, thought of as non-linear, unpredictable, and foregrounding the future as one which is out of our control. This approach allows international human rights law to be more focused on the new - what is unexpected, excluded, or oppressed in society - and to engage in debate on what futures attentive to the new in an enhanced way would look like.

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Why is it important?

Debate on the usefulness of human rights, in particular at the international level, is ever-increasing. These debates are impossible to avoid, yet innovative responses to them are few. I offer one such response which goes beyond existing literature to date and considers time as offering an under-explored way to re-engage with international human rights law today.

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