Examines the role and impact of human rights norms in international courts other than human rights courts

This unique book examines the role and impact of human rights norms in international courts other than human rights courts. It covers a whole range of courts and jurisdictions, looking at the practice of prominent international courts, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, as well as various fora of economic adjudication, including the World Trade Organisation, regional integration organisations in Europe and Africa, and investment arbitration. The book systematically explores the role of human rights norms at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, thereby providing an insight into the future evolution of environmental law towards judicial enforcement at the international level. Within each jurisdiction under study, the respective authors, who all are experts within their fields, address the role of different categories of human rights, as well as the range of available modes of operation of human rights norms.

This book attempts to establish how courts of general jurisdiction differ from specialized human rights courts in their approach to the implementation and development of international human rights. Why do courts of general jurisdiction face particular problems in relation to the application of international human rights law and why, in other cases, are they better placed than specialized human rights courts to act as guardians of international human rights? At the international level, this volume focusses on the International Court of Justice and courts of regional economic integration organizations in Europe, Latin America and Africa. With regard to the judicial implementation of international human rights and human rights decisions at the domestic level, the contributions analyze the requirements set by human rights treaties and offer a series of country studies on the practice of domestic courts in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. This book follows up on research undertaken by the International Human Rights Law Committee of the International Law Association. It includes the final Committee report as well as contributions by committee members and external experts.

The existence of a hierarchy between the different international legal rules is increasingly being debated. This volume will identify the extent to which judicial bodies and domestic courts contribute to an emerging normative hierarchy within international law, based on the primacy of human rights.

This book examines an unexplored method of interpretation: the use of domestic law in the interpretation of international law.

This book addresses the interpretation and application of human rights norms by International Criminal Tribunals (ICTs). Such Tribunals are widely heralded as human rights defenders. At the same time, however, they employ activities that necessary entail the risk of human rights violations: they conduct criminal investigations, arrest and detain individuals, and put them on trial. This book investigates this flip-side of the ICTs’ relationship with international human rights law, and focuses on the ICTs’ own interpretation and application of human rights norms. First, the book addresses whether and how ICTs are bound by human rights law, since unlike states, they do not sign or ratify human rights conventions. Second, the book provides an in-depth analysis of the way in which ICTs interpret and apply human rights norms, compared to the way in which these norms are interpreted in a traditional state-context. Relying on the unique circumstances in which they operate, ICTs have often deviated from generally accepted interpretations of human rights. The author critically examines this so-called contextual approach and seeks to recommend ways in which ICTs can improve their interpretative practice by giving due regard to the context in which they operate, while still providing adequate human rights protection. Addressing the ICTs’ possible leeway in terms of contextualization, this book contributes to the broader debates about adherence to human rights norms in international law. Krit Zeegers is an Associate at Allen & Overy LLP, Amsterdam, and previously worked as a researcher / junior lecturer at the University of Amsterdam.

Focuses on understanding human rights as they really are and their proper role in international affairs.