Multiparty Democracy: International and European Human Rights Law Perspectives

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
JURE VIDMAR

AbstractAlthough multiparty elections are not explicitly required by international human rights instruments or the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), certain human rights provisions have been interpreted as leading to such a requirement. While a democratic interpretation of human rights law has been settled in the ECHR framework, it remains disputable at the universal level. Despite numerous references to democracy in the documents adopted in the UN framework in the post-Cold War era, this article argues that an explicit link between international human rights law and multiparty elections has yet to be established. On the other hand, such a link has been developed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Multiparty elections are considered to be part of the European public order. Moreover, the ECtHR has shown that it understands democracy beyond the existence of electoral procedures. But the role and understanding of democracy within the ECHR cannot be universalized.

Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen

Following a summary presentation of some key events in the history of international human rights law before the Second World War, Chapter 7 concentrates on one prominent example within the field of international human rights law, namely the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Section 7.2 deals in turn with three core issues. First, Section 7.2.1 describes the evolution of the procedural status of individuals before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and assesses the role of the concept of international legal personality in that regard. Section 7.2.2 studies the Court’s practice concerning the interpretation of the ECHR, including the margin of appreciation doctrine. Finally, Section 7.2.3 analyses the practice of the ECtHR as regards the place of the Convention in the international legal system.


Author(s):  
Phillip Drew

The years since the beginning of the twenty-first century have seen a significant incursion of international human rights law into the domain that had previously been the within the exclusive purview of international humanitarian law. The expansion of extraterritorial jurisdiction, particularly by the European Court of Human Rights, means that for many states, the exercise of physical power and control over an individual outside their territory may engage the jurisdiction of human rights obligations. Understanding the expansive tendencies of certain human rights tribunals, and the apparent disdain they have for any ambiguity respecting human rights, it is offered that the uncertain nature of the law surrounding humanitarian relief during blockades could leave blockading forces vulnerable to legal challenge under human rights legislation, particularly in cases in which starvation occurs as a result of a blockade.


2021 ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Ebru Demir

In its recent jurisprudence on domestic violence, the European Court of Human Rights started to examine the domestic violence cases in the light of relevant international human rights law developed in this specific area. This article examines the engagement of the European Court of Human Rights with other international and regional human rights instruments in domestic violence cases. Upon examination, the article concludes that by integrating its case law into international human rights law the European Court of Human Rights broadens the scope of protection for domestic violence victims and maintains the unity of international law.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-304
Author(s):  
Grigory Vaypan

This contribution discusses the recent Dubovets case before both the European Court of Human Rights and the Russian Constitutional Court, and its implications for the changing design of Russian property law as increasingly shaped by international human rights law and good governance principles. Communicated in December 2016, the application in Dubovets v. Russia continues the line of the European Court’s cases against Russia on the protection of good faith private owners of real estate against property claims by the government. Prompted by this case law, the Russian Constitutional Court in its Judgment of 22 June 2017 No 16-P struck down Article 302 of the Russian Civil Code as unconstitutional insofar as it entitled the government to reclaim possession of state property that had been previously alienated due to the government’s own negligence. This judgment manifests the increasing interdependence between private and public law – of classical property law, on the one hand, and international human rights law and good governance principles, on the other hand. It also contributes to ongoing evolution in the understanding of the state’s property rights in Russia: from the superior status of public property in Soviet times – to formal equality between public and private property rights in the landmark legal instruments of the 1990s – and now to the growing need for special protection of individual property rights vis-à-vis the state, in light of the latter’s double role as both the largest owner and the (quite unrestrained) regulator.


2019 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 92-95
Author(s):  
Elena Abrusci

Following the International Law Commission Report on Fragmentation in International Law (IL), scholars have started to question whether such fragmentation could also have affected its subbranches, and, especially, international human rights law (IHRL). Due to the proliferation of both IHRL norms and institutions, especially at the regional level, this appeared to be a real possibility.


1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 796-818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic McGoldrick

This article seeks to present an integrated conception of sustainable development, with particular emphasis on the contribution of international human rights law and theory. Part II considers a structural conception of sustainable development. Part III considers parallels between sustainable development and self-determination. Part IV provides some general reflections on international environmental law and international human rights law in terms of analogous concepts, principles and systems. What similarities are there and what differences? Part V considers the progress made towards recognition of a “human right to the environment”. Part VI considers how international environmental claims could be brought within the existing international human rights complaint systems. Part VII analyses the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in theLopez Ostracase (1994), the leading case on environmental claims to have reached that Court.


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