The Right to Science in Latin American Constitutionalism: Between Formal Enshrinement and the Concretization Deficit

Abstract

The right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, despite its early recognition in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its development in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, remains one of the least concretized rights in Latin American constitutionalism. This article critically examines the constitutional recognition of the right to science in Latin America, demonstrating that the predominantly programmatic normative configuration weakens the enabling function this right exercises over other fundamental rights. Through a hermeneutic-comparative approach examining eight constitutions in light of General Comment No. 25 of the CESCR and Inter-American jurisprudence, three modalities of recognition with markedly unequal degrees of concretization are identified. The findings reveal that the gap between the normative programme and the normative domain of the right to science compromises the realization of interdependent rights such as health, education, and a healthy environment. The article concludes that the region requires a constitutional model configuring this right as an enforceable subjective entitlement, endowed with institutional guarantees and justiciability mechanisms that transcend mere programmatic enshrinement.