As a response to widespread structural or endemic human rights violations, in 2004 the European Court began to issue pilot judgments, the aim of which was not only to exert further pressure on national authorities to tackle systemic problems, but also to stop the European Court itself being inundated with the same types of cases. This analyses the principal characteristics of the pilot judgment procedure and its application in key cases to date.

This volume maps out the response of states to human rights violations. It covers the period 1946-1999 and offers a complete and unmatched record for this period. Its starting point is that such responses are not established and accepted state practice. Traditional, if unwritten, norms of states' behaviour developed through centuries of silence and inaction; the prevalent reaction to human rights violations by another state remains the absence of any response. Furthermore, this book probes into evidence of active and passive complicity by reviewing aid to countries in which violations have been taking place and diplomatic initiatives undertaken to shield violators from public opprobrium. Since international law is generated through state practice, the book highlights the ongoing tussle between the pre-1946 heritage of silence and inaction and the 1946-1999 haphazard pattern of responses to violations.

Now in its fourth edition, this well-respected textbook blends the theory of human rights with its context, debates and practice.

This book explores the comparative historical evolution of the European, Inter-American and African regional human rights systems. The book devotes attention to various factors that have shaped the systems: the different circumstances in which they were founded; the influence of major states and inter-state politics within their respective regions; gradual processes of institutional evolution; and the impact of human rights advocates and claimants. Throughout, the book devotes careful attention to the impact of institutional and procedural choices on the functioning of human rights systems. Overarchingly, the book explores the contextually-generated differences between the three systems, suggesting that human rights practice is less unitary than it might at times appear. Prescriptively, the book proposes that, contrary to the received wisdom in some quarters, the Inter-American system's dual-track approach may provide the most promising model in regards to future human rights system design.

This book examines the understudied, yet increasingly applied, concept of Guarantees of Non-Repetition under international human rights law and transitional justice. Guarantees of Non-Repetition (GNRs) are measures taken to ensure that human rights abuses do not recur. They are especially crucial in post-war contexts marked by severe and systematic violations. However, although they are increasingly invoked, GNRs are not well understood, and they have so far received only limited theoretical and practical analysis. Tracing their development to the influence of international human rights law, this book considers what GNRs are, how and why they have come about, and how GNRs are implemented. Through an explication of the history, law and jurisprudence of GNR’s – in regional mechanisms in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, as well as in international bodies – the book maintains the increasing importance, and as yet unfulfilled potential, of this legal obligation in transitional justice settings. This first book to analyse the development of GNRs and their application will appeal to scholars in the areas of law and transitional justice, public policy, and socio-legal studies, as well as lawyers and policy-makers working in post-conflict situations.

International courts and other actors are increasingly taking into account pre-existing social structures and inequalities when addressing and redressing human rights violations, in particular discrimination against specific groups. To date, however, academic legal research has paid little attention to this gentle turn in international human rights law and practice to address structural discrimination. In order to address this gap, this study analyses whether and to what extent international and regional human rights frameworks foresee positive obligations for State parties to address structural discrimination, and, more precisely, gender hierarchies and stereotypes as root causes of gender-based violence. In order to answer this question, the book analyses whether or not international human rights law requires pursuing a root-cause-sensitive and transformative approach to structural discrimination against women in general and to the prevention, protection and reparation of violence against women in particular; to what extent international courts and (quasi)judicial bodies address State responsibility for the systemic occurrence of violence against women and its underlying root causes; whether or not international courts and monitoring bodies have suitable tools for addressing structural discrimination within the society of a contracting party; and the limits to a transformative approach.

Saul, Follesdal and Ulfstein examine in detail the interplay between national parliaments and the international human rights judiciary.

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.

Sudan has been undergoing profound changes characterized by an uncertain transition from conflict to post-conflict society and the separation of the country in the midst of ongoing human rights concerns. This book examines the nature, policy aspects and interrelationship of Sudanese criminal law and law reform in this context, situating developments in the broader debate of international human rights, rule of law and transitional justice. For the first time, Sudanese, national, regional and international experts and practitioners are brought together to share experiences, combining a range of legal and policy perspectives. The book provides valuable lessons on how relevant standards and experiences can be used to inform criminal law reform in Sudan. It also considers what broader lessons can be drawn for reform initiatives in other societies facing similar challenges. This includes the type of violations that need to be addressed in reforms as a prerequisite for enhanced human rights protection, challenges experienced in this regard, and the contribution of civil society in this process.

This book provides unique insights into the practice of democratic constitutionalism in one of the world’s most legally and politically significant regions. It combines contributions from leading Latin American and global scholars to provide ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down’ insights about the lessons to be drawn from the distinctive constitutional experiences of countries in Latin America. In doing so, it also draws on a rich array of legal and interdisciplinary perspectives. Ultimately, it shows both the promise of democratic constitutions as a vehicle for social, economic and political change, and the variation in the actual constitutional experiences of different countries on the ground – or the limits to constitutions as a locus for broader social change.