Domestic Application of International Law in Latin America

2019 ◽  
pp. 564-581
Author(s):  
René Urueña
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
International Law ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Deep Integration

This chapter explores the deep interaction of Latin American constitutions with international law, and international human rights law in particular, as a contribution to the emerging field of “comparative foreign affairs law.” The chapter begins by describing how open constitutional clauses and the case law of domestic courts facilitate such a deep integration of domestic and international law in the region. It then explores the international factors that explain the interaction, focusing on the doctrine of “control of conventionality,” developed by the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The tide in the region, though, might be changing, and the chapter describes some of the incipient resistance that the deep integration of international law in domestic systems seems to be inspiring. The chapter concludes by considering the potential, and limits, of a “foreign relations law” field from the perspective of Latin America.

scholarly journals State Practice as Element of Customary International Law: A White Knight in International Criminal Law?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 784-804
Author(s):  
Harmen van der Wilt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
State Practice

Inter-state practice is relatively scarce in the area of human rights and international criminal law. This article ventures to inquire how this has affected the process of identification of customary international law by international criminal tribunals and courts. The main conclusion is that the two components of customary international law – opinio juris and state practice – have become blurred. In search of customary international law, international tribunals have resorted to national legislation and case law of domestic courts. These legal artefacts can be qualified as both evidence of state practice and opinio juris. The author attempts to explain the reasons for this development and holds that, if properly applied, the methodology, while seemingly messy, comports with the nature of international criminal law.

scholarly journals Bioethical Aspects of Human Rights in Modern Latin America

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
J. A. Travieso ◽  
A. V. Ferraro ◽  
E. N. Trikoz ◽  
E. E. Gulyaeva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
International Law ◽  
Latin American ◽  
World Order ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Legal Provisions

The aim of the paper is to analyze the bioethical aspects of the institution of human rights in Latin America. The result of the present research is the author's conclusion on the necessity of the practical implementation of legal provisions in this area, and their judicial enforcement in many states of Latin America with the aim of compliance with international standards of human rights. In the face of global uncertainty of COVID-19, it is more necessary than ever to maintain a strong commitment to international law and human rights with responsibility in bioethics, and also to seek to preserve and consolidate what has been advanced in the construction of a world order based on rules and shared values, along with a policy structured on common values and international principles. States must take international responsibility for wrongful acts for the violation of human rights in biolaw. The research methodology was based on general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition (the dialectical method, methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, comparative legal and historical legal methods). The biolaw basing on the International Law and Human Rights has its special understanding of the issue, which should be supported by further legislative development in Latin America. Latin American courts will not be able to make judgments on bioethical issues for a long time, while it is closely related to biopolitics and other controversial regional political positions. There are structural and historical problems of Latin American legal culture, a high index of criminal impunity and wide discretion of law-enforcement agencies that do not apply specific principles of biolaw and even bypass official bioethical guidelines in their practice. The author's give overview of the practice of Mexico on the matter of the legislative process in biolaw. The paper focuses on different theoretical approaches.

Contours of an Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Water in Latin America under International Law

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Parriciatu ◽  
Francesco Sindico
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Customary Laws ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

This article critically assesses the nature and the content of a possible human right to water for Indigenous People in the Latin American context. On the one hand, after introducing the deliberately unclear definition of Indigenous People, the article considers that a human right to water is embedded in Indigenous Peoples’ customary laws, which, according to legal pluralism, are to be considered as a legitimate source of law. The article then moves to the content of a possible human right to water for Indigenous People in the Latin American context. The importance of the jurisprudence of the Inter American Court of Human Rights is highlighted, and the obligation for States to consult with Indigenous People when dealing with their water resources is hailed as one of the key elements of a human right to water.

The Great Promise of Comparative Public Law for Latin America

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Rodiles
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
International Law ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Ius Commune

This chapter analyzes “ius constitutionale commune in Latin America” (ICCLA) in light of comparative international law. For the proponents of ICCLA, this represents a common public law of the region that emerges through judicial dialogue among the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and Latin American national courts. This chapter questions this assumption, first by focusing on the ideological and theoretical genesis of this project, which is the product of a trans-regional academic discourse centered on a German conception of European constitutionalism (Gemeineuropäisches Verfassungsrecht). Next, it addresses the main features of the regional judicial dialogue, considering whether it truly reveals a pluralistic conversation, or instead denotes a monologue promoted by the IACHR. It argues that the latter comes closer to the truth, a conclusion that leads to a reconsideration of the pluralistic narrative about ICCLA. This, in turn, raises serious doubts about the emergence of ius commune in Latin America.

scholarly journals Human Rights Theory and Comparative International Law Scholarship

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher McCrudden
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Domestic Use ◽  
International Human

An account of what we know about the use by domestic courts of international human rights law is identified, based on the findings in this volume and earlier work on the use of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). From that, three aspects of the domestic functions of international human rights treaties are tentatively identified as particularly significant: international human rights law is only partly internationally-directed; domestic courts very seldom appear to be acting as ‘agents’ of international human rights law; and ‘human dignity’ (sometimes by itself, sometimes alongside ‘autonomy’ and ‘equality’) acts as an important meta-principle in the domestic use of international human rights law. The implications these functions have for normative theorising about human rights, in particular practice-dependent theories of human rights, is considered, and a theory of human rights law consistent with this practice is identified.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Practice

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Disability Law ◽  
Domestic Law ◽  
Domestic Level ◽  
Domestic Case

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) has been in force for nearly a decade. This book examines how the Convention has been given effect and interpreted in thirteen different jurisdictions. It has two main interconnected aims. The first is to investigate and compare the way in which the CRPD has been interpreted and applied by courts in different jurisdictions. The second is to investigate and deepen understanding of the CRPD’s influence at the domestic level. The first of these aims situates this study within the emerging field of comparative international law—to which it offers the first major contribution addressing an international human rights treaty other than the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The second situates it within the field of disability law—to which it offers the first sustained analysis of how the CRPD influences domestic court judgments. Besides the thirteen jurisdiction-specific chapters (written by experts in both the CRPD and the particular jurisdiction in question), comparative analysis is provided in four chapters—addressing respectively the interpretation of CRPD provisions by domestic courts; the legal status of the CRPD in domestic law and its relevance to domestic case law; the uses made of the CRPD by domestic courts; and the judiciary’s role and perception of its relationship with the CRPD. The book also includes reflections on the implications of this study, and previous comparative international law studies of CEDAW, for human rights theory.

Equality in Immigration Law: An Impossible Quest?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 725-744
Author(s):  
Jean-Baptiste Farcy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
European Court ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
Restraint Mechanism ◽  
Economic Worth ◽  
Proportionality Test ◽  
Citizenship Laws

Abstract The aim of this article is to discuss why the principle of equality and non-discrimination, although foundational to international human rights law, remains an unfulfilled promise in the context of immigration. Nationality is now widely considered as a suspect ground of discrimination, yet contemporary immigration and citizenship laws increasingly use meritocratic criteria to distinguish among migrants. Although framed in universal terms, these criteria create differences of treatment among migrants based on their income, level of education and economic worth. However, from a legal perspective such differences of treatment rarely amount to prohibited discrimination. Looking at the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, this article argues that the normative content of the equality and non-discrimination principle fails to challenge such differences of treatment. Moreover, the proportionality test is used as a judicial restraint mechanism which prevents the effective enforcement of the equality requirement by international and domestic courts in the context of immigration.

Judicial Interactions and Human Rights Contestations in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Contesse
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Courts ◽  
American States ◽  
History Of ◽  
Potential Mode ◽  
International Adjudication

Abstract The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is one of the world's most active human rights tribunals. Through an impressive history of case law, the Court has exerted significant influence upon Latin American states. In recent years, however, states and domestic national courts have challenged the Inter-American Court's authority in more complex and potentially more damaging ways than in the past. By exploring how the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has expanded its reach upon states, and how states engage in turn, the Article examines ways of interaction that can enhance or debilitate the Court's authority and influence on states. The Article explores recent dissents as a potential mode of resistance, especially when coupled with states' unease towards international adjudication and suggests ways in which the Court may respond to such challenges in order to protect and enhance its authority.

scholarly journals Treaties over Time and Human Rights: A Case Law Analysis of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Enrique Arévalo Narváez ◽  
Paola Andrea Patarroyo Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Treaty Interpretation ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Fragmentation Of International Law ◽  
Over Time

This paper analyzes the issue of treaties over time and the interpretations of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in this context. Parts 1 and 2 introduce the elements of treaty interpretation in general international law, providing criteria for the application of the evolutionary approach to treaty interpretation, the debate between the application of evolutive interpretation and the use of subsequent conduct. Part 3 addresses the issue of fragmentation in international human rights law, and through the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, provides  evidence for the application of the rules of general international law to interpret the American Convention on Human Rights. Finally, conclusions are extracted on the basis of the case law analyzed, contrasting the Court’s application of the American Convention over time, the conclusions of the International Law Commission Reports on the Fragmentation of International Law in 2008, and the preliminary conclusions of the Study Group on Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice concerning treaty interpretation and the issue of the passage of time.

The Role of Domestic Courts in International Human Rights Law: The Constitutional Court of Colombia and Free, Prior and Informed Consent

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-381
Author(s):  
José Parra
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Domestic Courts ◽  
International Human

The internalization of international law by domestic courts is central to the effective implementation of international human rights law. This is particularly true for emerging rights rooted in soft law. In this regard, indigenous peoples’ rights have significantly expanded in international law over the past 20 years, essentially in the form of soft law. As a case study, the review of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of Colombia illustrates ‘progressive’ interpretation of soft law, notably on free, prior and informed consent, which is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Thus, domestic courts not only implement international human rights law, but they also foster its development.

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