scholarly journals International human rights courts and the (international) rule of law: Part of the solution, part of the problem, or both?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-138
Author(s):  
ANDREAS FOLLESDAL
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
European Court ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
International Human ◽  
International Rule

AbstractCritics challenge international courts for their interference with domestic democratic processes and alleged violations of rule of law standards: they claim that these guardians of the rule of law are not well guarded themselves. These concerns should not be dismissed too quickly as mere disgruntled venting by populist politicians. This article focuses on regional human rights courts and argues that the same interests and values that justify rule of law standards of impartiality, independence and accountability domestically also justify similar standards for international courts. Focusing on the European Court of Human Rights and its doctrine of the margin of appreciation, the article demonstrates how this doctrine may contribute to fulfilling the rule of law but at the same time may also endanger it. This requires changes to the doctrine to ensure that the core rule of law standards of predictability and protection against arbitrary discretion are respected.

International Humanitarian Law

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aryeh Neier
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
International Human

This chapter explores how international humanitarian law and international human rights law initially developed independently, but have converged and are now deeply interwoven. Since ancient times, some who take part in armed combat have recognized that placing certain limits on the way in which they conduct hostilities can be advantageous. It can be a sign of civilized behavior, enhancing their own prestige; it may be a way to encourage their opponents to behave in a similar manner; and it may contribute to the reestablishment of peaceful relations in which the rule of law prevails. Whether or not these limits confer advantages, they do most often have the effect of asserting a commitment to humane principles.

scholarly journals A few thoughts on guaranties inherent to the rule of law as applied to sanctions and the prosecution and punishment of war crimes

2008 ◽  
Vol 90 (870) ◽  
pp. 343-357
Author(s):  
Damien Scalia
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Courts ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
European Court

AbstractWar crimes are among the most serious crimes; that is why international courts and tribunals have jurisdiction to prosecute and punish them. However, serious though they are, it is not legitimate to punish them in such a way as to exceed the bounds of respect for human rights. The author considers that, when the perpetrators of war crimes are prosecuted and punished, criteria inherent to the rule of law like those applied by the European Court of Human Rights (such as legality and proportionality) must be met.

6. Convention law: pervasive themes

2021 ◽  
pp. 130-146
Author(s):  
Howard Davis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
European Court ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Key Points ◽  
External Sources ◽  
Self Test

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, discussion points and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter discusses the various concepts that pervade the way the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is interpreted and, therefore, how Convention rights under the HRA are applied. The chapter considers the internal and external sources used to interpret the text. It goes on to consider the concepts that the European Court of Human Rights has developed when applying the Convention. In particular the ‘living instrument’ doctrine, the idea of the rule of law, the margin of appreciation, proportionality, and democracy (in a Convention context) are considered and explored.

scholarly journals Crisis Without Borders: What Does International Law Say About Border Closure in the Context of Covid-19?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Chetail
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
International Human

This paper is assessing the legality of border closures decided by a vast number of countries with the view of limiting the spread of Covid-19. Although this issue has raised diverging interpretations in relation to International Health Regulations and regional free movement agreements, international human rights law provides a clear-cut answer: the rule of law stops neither at the border nor in times of emergency. Against this normative framework, border control can and must be carried out with the twofold purpose of protecting public health and individual rights, whereas border closure is unable to do so because it is by essence a collective and automatic denial of admission without any other form of process. This paper argues that blanket entry bans on the ground of public health are illegal under international human rights law. They cannot be reconciled with the most basic rights of migrants and refugees, including the principle of non-refoulement and access to asylum procedures, the prohibition of collective expulsion, the best interests of the child and the principle of non-discrimination. The paper concludes on the ways to better integrate at the borders public health and human rights imperatives in due respect with the rule of law. In both law and practice, public health and migrant's rights are not mutually exclusive. They can reinforce each other within a comprehensive human rights based approach to health and migration policies.

Der "margin of appreciation" beim Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Gorzoni
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
European Court ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Formal Principle ◽  
International Human

The application of the margin of appreciation is indispensable in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights as the European Convention on Human Rights does not envisage the development of a single understanding of human rights for all states. However, it has to be taken into account that the states’ margin of discretion in this respect cannot be unlimited. The challenge is to find the necessary balance between the sovereignty of the national authorities and a coherent form of international human rights protection. This study analyses this challenge using the theory of principles. It raises the question of how an international balance, including the sovereignty or the competence of the national authorities as a formal principle, can be established. In the course of reconstructing the margin of appreciation by applying different models of formal principles in an empirical case study, the author develops an answer to this question.

Reporting Under International Human Rights Instruments by African Countries

1994 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hatchard
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
African Countries ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
International Human ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

In an address to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on 31 January, 1994, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights stressed that the ratification of human rights instruments and die effective implementation of their provisions is fundamental in a world that aspires to the rule of law and the safeguard of fundamental freedoms. This followed the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations which reaffirmed that the effective implementation of the international human rights instruments is of major importance to the organization and urged all states that have not yet done so to become parties to the two International Covenants and to consider acceding to the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Margin of Appreciation Revisited

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Letsas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
International Human

The idea that states have discretion in complying with their human rights obligations, and the idea that human rights obligations should be compatible with a degree of diversity between states, are either trivial or misleading. In order to assess properly the doctrine of the Margin of Appreciation, one has to reconstruct it as a normative thesis about the conditions under which an international human rights court should place substantial weight on a decision by a domestic authority. Thus understood, however, the doctrine is problematic as it offends the values underlying human rights and the rule of international law. The chapter evaluates Andreas Follesdal’s particular defence of the Margin of Appreciation and argues that neither sovereignty nor democracy provides normative support for unqualified judicial deference. It argues further that the exceptions Follesdal wishes to place on deference to democratic institutions end up covering the whole of the scope of human rights obligations, making the idea of deference redundant.

International Human Rights Law and Blockade

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip Drew
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
European Court ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
International Human ◽  
Extraterritorial Jurisdiction ◽  
And Control

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.

In Search of a Standard: References to the Rule of Law in the Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights

ICL Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-69
Author(s):  
Eszter Polgári
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
European Court ◽  
Structured Analysis ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Grand Chamber

AbstractThe present article maps the explicit references to the rule of law in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR by examining the judgments of the Grand Chamber and the Plenary Court. On the basis of the structured analysis it seeks to identify the constitutive elements of the Court’s rule of law concept and contrast it with the author’s working definition and the position of other Council of Europe organs. The review of the case-law indicates that the Court primarily associates the rule of law with access to court, judicial safeguards, legality and democracy, and it follows a moderately thick definition of the concept including formal, procedural and some substantive elements. The rule of law references are predominantly ancillary arguments giving weight to other Convention-based considerations and it is not applied as a self-standing standard.

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