Week 14

• Human rights are universal legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions and omissions of States that interfere with fundamental freedoms, entitlements, and human dignity
• Jack Donnelly in 1985 defined human rights as the rights one has simply because one is a human being
• Johan Galtung stated in 1994 that human rights exist because humans have certain basic fundamental needs
• Mary Robinson, Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, believes human rights are inherent in people and predate official proclamations
• Most jurisdictional clauses in human rights treaties guarantee rights and freedoms to 'all individuals', 'everyone' within a state’s territory and/or jurisdiction, including nationals and non-nationals
• Civil and political rights may be restricted to citizens in some cases, such as the rights to enter or remain in a state, or political participation like the right to vote or stand for election
• Legal entities like non-governmental organizations and corporations have standing to make claims on their own behalf before institutions like the ECtHR
• States have obligations under human rights treaties if they are party to them, and the ECHR provides for accession by the European Union
• Types of obligations under international human rights law include negative obligations (not to interfere) and positive obligations (requiring affirmative government action to prevent human rights violations)
• The human rights enforcement block focuses on ensuring states implement their human rights obligations and are held accountable when violations occur
• UN Charter-based mechanisms for human rights enforcement involve UN organs like the General Assembly, ECOSOC, Human Rights Council, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Treaty-based mechanisms for human rights enforcement include treaty bodies like the Human Rights Committee, focusing on normative and standard-setting with limited mandates and reach
• Adjudicative mechanisms for human rights enforcement include inter-State and individual complaints, while non-adjudicative mechanisms involve monitoring, state reporting, universal periodic review, and special procedures
• The UN has a variety of human rights treaties and declarations covering comprehensive treaties, specific wrongs, and vulnerable groups of people
• The core UN human rights treaties include conventions like the ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW, CAT, CRC, and CRPD, among others
• Complaints-based mechanisms under the UN treaty framework include individual complaints and inter-State complaints, each with specific procedures and considerations
• The Human Rights Committee is a body of 18 independent experts monitoring the implementation of the ICCPR by States parties, considering inter-State complaints and individual complaints under the Optional Protocol
• Regional frameworks like the European, Inter-American, African, Arab, and Asian systems have their own mechanisms for human rights protection and enforcement, each with unique characteristics and jurisdictions
• The European Regional System for Human Rights Enforcement consists of three main organizations: Council of Europe (CoE), European Union (EU), and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
• The Council of Europe, founded in 1949, has 46 member states, 28 of which are EU members, and its mandate includes promoting interdependence, common identity, collective security, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law, and culture
• The European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, contains mostly civil and political rights, and its accession is a condition of CoE membership, applying to all individuals within the jurisdiction of Member States
• The European Court of Human Rights, established in 1959, is composed of 46 judges, with different setups for handling individual complaints, including single judges, 3-Judge committees, 7-judge chambers, and the Grand Chamber
• Challenges faced by the European Court of Human Rights include a high caseload, leading to reforms like Protocol 14 in 2020 to improve efficiency
• The Inter-American System for Human Rights Enforcement, established in 1948, includes the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, with functions like investigating individual complaints and preparing reports on human rights issues
• Advantages of regional complaints-based mechanisms over universal ones include increased accessibility for individual victims and more effective and reliable enforcement mechanisms
• Challenges faced by complaints-based mechanisms include addressing complaints in a timely manner, effective implementation, and dealing with non-state actors in the global arena