Derogation of Human Rights Treaties in Public Emergency and South Korean Practice ‒ including Martial Law and COVID-19 ‒

International Human Rights Law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to, International Law. This book explains the distinctive nature of the new discipline by examining the influence of the moral concept of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of moral philosophy or political theory, the work explains the term ‘human rights’ by examining its usage in international law practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice in the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, The Idea of International Human Rights Law shows how a moral concept of human rights emerged, and then influenced the international law doctrine and practice on human rights, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and the special nature of International Human Rights Law.

Download Full-text

Council of Europe

10.1093/oso/9780198786627.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Oliver Lewis

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

European Convention ◽

Social Rights ◽

Council Of Europe ◽

Persons With Disabilities ◽

European Committee ◽

European Court ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

Fundamental Freedoms ◽

Two Bodies

This chapter presents an overview of the adjudicative bodies of the Council of Europe—namely, the European Court of Human Rights (established by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR)) and the European Committee of Social Rights—and outlines their mandates with regard to integrating UN human rights treaties. It analyses how these two bodies have cited the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The dataset was forty-five cases dealt with by the Court and two collective complaints decided by the Committee that cite the CRPD up to 2016. Notwithstanding the relatively small size of the dataset, the conclusions are that the Council of Europe system has yet to engage seriously in the CRPD’s jurisprudential opportunities. The reasons for this cannot be ascertained from a desk-based methodology, and further research is required.

Download Full-text

The Obligation to Afford Reparation to Injured Individuals

10.1093/oso/9780198808442.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Carla Ferstman

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

International Organizations ◽

International Humanitarian Law ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

The Law ◽

The Right ◽

Right Of Access ◽

The Relationship

This chapter considers the consequences of breaches of human rights and international humanitarian law for the responsible international organizations. It concentrates on the obligations owed to injured individuals. The obligation to make reparation arises automatically from a finding of responsibility and is an obligation of result. I analyse who has this obligation, to whom it is owed, and what it entails. I also consider the right of individuals to procedures by which they may vindicate their right to a remedy and the right of access to a court that may be implied from certain human rights treaties. In tandem, I consider the relationship between those obligations and individuals’ rights under international law. An overarching issue is how the law of responsibility intersects with the specialized regimes of human rights and international humanitarian law and particularly, their application to individuals.

Download Full-text

The Fallacy of Effective Human Rights Protection under Relevant Treaty Law when Armed Groups Commit Violations

10.1093/oso/9780198821946.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Tilman Rodenhäuser

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Rights Violations ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Armed Groups ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Human Rights Protection ◽

Rights Protection ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

International Human

Chapter 5 adds to the contemporary discourse on human rights obligations of non-state armed groups by showing that in many situations, there is a clear legal need for these obligations. This chapter first engages in the debate on whether and to what extent certain human rights treaties address armed groups directly. Second, it shows that under the law of state responsibility, states are generally not responsible for human rights violations committed by non-state entities. Third, it recalls that under international human rights law, states have an obligation to protect human rights against violations committed by armed groups. However, it argues that because this cannot be a strict obligation but is one that depends on states’ capacities and the particular circumstances, often this framework cannot adequately protect individuals against human rights violations by armed groups. The result is a legal and practical need for human rights obligations of non-state armed groups.

Download Full-text

The Institutional Future of the Covenants

10.1093/oso/9780198825890.003.0014 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Felice D Gaer

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Body System ◽

International Human Rights ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

Treaty Monitoring ◽

Treaty Body ◽

International Human ◽

Normative Standards ◽

Individual Petition

Longstanding proposals to strengthen implementation of the international human rights treaties have often focused on procedural reforms such as harmonizing methods of work or consolidating ten treaty monitoring bodies into one. This article reviews past reform efforts and then considers proposals to create stronger individual petition mechanisms—including a ‘world court’—as a way of strengthening human rights implementation. After discussing these proposals, the author offers additional ways to make the system more effective and efficient. She rejects the oft-suggested proposal to create a ‘world court’ for human rights, noting legal, organizational, logistical, and financial obstacles. Rather than rushing to tear down the current treaty body system, the author offers a proposal for determining how consolidation of petition proceedings might affect normative standards.

Download Full-text

The ECtHR, transregional dialogues and global constitutionalism

Global Constitutionalism ◽

10.1017/s2045381720000118 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 543-551

Author(s):

WAYNE SANDHOLTZ

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Legal Order ◽

Level System ◽

Global Order ◽

European Court ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

Global Constitutionalism ◽

Multi Level ◽

Global Law ◽

Decentralized Mechanism

AbstractIn A Cosmopolitan Legal Order, Stone Sweet and Ryan suggest that ‘from the standpoint of global law, we see that the [European Court of Human Rights] has taken its place in a pluralist, rights-based international order, as one trustee of this global order’. This article is a preliminary attempt to evaluate signs of movement toward global rights review. A multi-level charter of rights exists in the network of international and regional human rights treaties and in national constitutions. An incipient structure of global rights review exists in the form of the regional human rights courts, which see themselves as trustees of the larger global human rights system. Judicial dialogue among the regional courts allows for informal, decentralized coordination among them. The European Court of Human Rights serves as a point of reference for the African and Inter-American systems, though these also cite each other. Transregional judicial dialogue establishes a rudimentary, informal and decentralized mechanism of coordination among bodies that exercise a review function in the multi-level system of international human rights.

Download Full-text