Right to the Truth and International Jurisprudence as the “Conscience” of Humanity. Comparative Insights from the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights

Global Jurist ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Oriolo

AbstractIn recent decades, the right to the truth has increasingly come to the attention of international scholars and jurisprudence. Moving from the recognition of truth as a right in the international arena and exploring the reconstruction and evolution of the right to the truth in the international human rights courts’ case-law, the following analysis focuses on the ECtHR and IACtHR insights in a comparative perspective to conclude on the emerging trends of the Strasbourg Court and the Court of San José in interpreting and applying the right to the truth, thereby acting as the “conscience” of the whole of humanity.

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi

The general rule in almost all jurisdictions is that when an offence is committed, the suspect will be prosecuted by the state’s prosecutorial organ. However, there is one exception to this rule in many states – private prosecution. International human rights instruments do not provide for the right of a victim to institute a private prosecution. However, in many states legislation or case law provides for this right. Due to the fact that different states have different legal systems, it is important to study the features of private prosecutions in these jurisdictions. These features also demonstrate the limitations on the right to institute a private prosecution. In this article, the author analyses pieces of legislation or case law from states in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and North America to highlight how legislation or case law has dealt with the following aspects of private prosecution: legal basis for instituting a private prosecution; locus standi in private prosecutions; whether permission from the court or prosecuting authority is a pre-requisite for instituting a private prosecution; the threshold that has to be met to institute a private prosecution; the rights of the accused in private prosecutions; incurring the costs for a private prosecution; state intervention or involvement in private prosecutions; and abuse of private prosecutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Roig Monge

Abstract Subsistence fishing is a confusing and heterogeneous fishery construct. Even so, its connection to human protection compels us to analyze it through the lens of human rights. Using the case of Chile due to its legal peculiarities, we aim to determine the scope of the Chilean legislation on subsistence fishing, integrating international treaties on human rights, case law, and reports from United Nations agencies regarding three issues. First, we examine how the Chilean legislation relates to the right to food and the promotion of decent social conditions. Next, we explain why the prohibition of riggings and propulsion enables us to identify economically precarious users and how this prohibition is related to vulnerabilities and poverty as human rights concepts. Finally, we show how the property of indigenous peoples and the culture of fisherfolk populations could impose their inclusion and preferences in access to subsistence fishing resources. Considering the results, we hold that human rights help to clarify the understanding of it and propose partial amendments to the Chilean legislation on subsistence fishing. But, above all, they introduce protection standards that allow us to see such legislation not as a mere derivation of state privilege, but as an attempt to foster a situation of equality: an affirmative action. We conclude by presenting a conceptual approach for Chilean subsistence fishing, suggesting that it could help to unveil new objectives and rights in fishing, and even influence the understanding of natural resource allocation.


Author(s):  
Elise Dermine

Welfare-to-work programmes imply a legal duty to perform work, often accompanied by sanctions which can be questioned from the angle of human rights and the freedom of work. The chapter examines the conformity of those programmes with the prohibition of forced labour and the right to freely chosen work proclaimed in international human rights instruments. It shows that the mandatory character of those programmes does not violate per se the prohibition of forced labour, neither the right to freely chosen work. However, those fundamental rights set limits and frames the development of welfare to work measures. Through a rigorous analysis of the emerging international case law, the chapter identifies six criteria for assessing the conformity of welfare-to-work programmes with those rights.


Author(s):  
Elise Dermine

The promoters of welfare-to-work programmes sometimes state that these are based on the will to ‘better realise’ the right to work of their recipients. This chapter questions this assumption and examines whether and under which conditions, those programmes could eventually find their foundation on the fundamental right to work proclaimed in international human rights texts. It demonstrates from an analysis of the international pacts, their preparatory texts and the case law that welfare-to-work measures can only be considered as aimed at realising the right to work if they are likely to improve the chances of their recipients to later find a freely chosen, paid and productive job in the labour market. It shows that this open and abstract condition excludes a large part of welfare-to-work measures from a human rights-based justification for the type of work they value or the way they are implemented.


Youth Justice ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-62
Author(s):  
Aekje Teeuwen

A delay in proceedings pending trial has a significant impact on defendants, particularly juveniles. The majority of prominent human rights instruments and their governing bodies seek to address the right to be tried within a reasonable time. Nevertheless, the unique position of juvenile defendants in relation to this right is considered with substantial inconsistency. Cambodia has ratified several international treaties acknowledging this fundamental right and recently adopted the Juvenile Justice Law. Consequently, this article examines the extent to which the right for juvenile defendants to be tried within a reasonable time has been incorporated into the relevant international, as well as the Cambodian legislative framework, and case law.


Author(s):  
Juan-Pablo Perez-Leon-Acevedo

Among international and hybrid criminal tribunals, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is one of the few that include a reparation system for victims of crimes under its jurisdiction. This article analyses how and to what extent the ECCC has used international human rights law (IHRL) to interpret and apply reparation provisions of the ECCC legal instruments. The ECCC has largely relied on IHRL sources, particularly, the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, case-law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. However, such use has been adapted to the legal framework of the ECCC. Unlike human rights courts, the ECCC determines individual criminal liability and, thus, can only order reparations against convicted individuals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belen Olmos Giupponi

This article highlights the advances and drawbacks in the recognition and implementation of the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of indigenous peoples in light of international litigation. Although a certain amount of progress has been achieved, this article demonstrates that a normative gap subsists between the international norms applicable and state practice. In exploring the topic, the article brings together diverse legal and theoretical components from several areas of law, some of which are not usually regarded as associated with FPIC. In particular, the article considers the interpretation of case law decided by international human rights bodies, regional human rights courts and investment tribunals, critically examining the constraints on their interpretation. The article concludes by analysing the various strategies followed to implement FPIC, and argues for an understanding of FPIC that reaches beyond the human rights arena.


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