Deliberative Discourse in Developing the EU’s Human Rights Responsibility

Theories of vernacularization, vascularization, legalization, and discordant parity explain how human rights take shape in different social contexts, spaces and time. Together, these explanatory accounts inform the broader theory of human rights experimentalism, which highlights that human rights are not developed through a unidirectional, straightforward legal process. Instead, they emerge from a dynamic, ongoing deliberative process involving many different actors who deliberate, refine, and adapt human rights to ensure their continued practical relevance and effectiveness. What does this mean for EU human rights responsibility? As EU entities take on more direct operational roles, questions arise about how they, rather than States, are held accountable for human rights and prompt deeper questions about what it means for EU entities to be bound by human rights. In turn, the question arises who contributes to the deliberative discourse that determines the modalities of EU human rights responsibility. This contribution investigates the deliberative input that feeds into determinations of EU human rights responsibility, and why meaningful access to the CJEU for EU human rights responsibility is crucial in ensuring the effectiveness of EU human rights protections.