The European Court Of Human Rights As A Pathway To Impunity For International Crimes

Introductory Remarks on the Perspective and Intent of the Author in Writing This Monograph The European Court of Human Rights comments in the judgment Korbely v. Hungary that: However, clearly drafted a legal provision may be, in any system of law, including criminal law, there is an inevitable element of judicial interpretation. There will always be a need for elucidation of doubtful points and for adaptation to changing circumstances. Indeed, in the Convention States, the progressive development of the criminal law through judicial law making is a well-entrenched and necessary part of legal tradition...The Court’s role is con?ned to ascertaining whether the effects of such an interpretation [interpretation by the national courts and authorities of domestic law which sometimes may refer to or incor- rate international law principles or agreements] are compatible with the Convention 1 [European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms] (emphasis added). This book then examines to what degree this “inevitable element of judicial interpretation” has been applied by the European Court of Human Rights in a manner consistent with the guarantees of the most fundamental human rights under international criminal, human rights and humanitarian law.

This volume presents and critiques the distorted effects of the international human rights movement's focus on the fight against impunity.

Bringing together leading experts in the field, this volume provides comprehensive academic commentary on the UN Principles to Combat Impunity. The book features the text of each of the 38 Principles, along with a full analysis, detailed commentary, and a guide to relevant literature and case law.

An analysis of how the European Convention on Human Rights applies to military operations.

The authors grapple with questions raised by the Court’s reversal in its approach to the violations of the rights to home and property of Cypriot displaced persons resulting from the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus. In the 4th interstate application of Cyprus v. Turkey, the Court found Turkey in violation of the rights to home and property of hundreds of thousands of Greek Cypriot internally displaced persons resulting from the invasion and occupation of northern Cyprus. Such findings were also firmly established in a handful of individual applications, most prominent amongst which is the landmark case Loizidou v. Turkey. However, a couple of decades following these judgments the findings of violations were jettisoned by the inadmissibility decision in Demopoulos and others v. Turkey.

The comprehensive analysis about the Inter-State Application under the ECHR by Isabella Risini fills a gap in the literature. The study provides an informed proposal to strengthen the protection of human rights in Europe and the role of the Court.

Justice and Memory after Dictatorship: Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Fragmentation of International Criminal Law provides a ground-breaking socio-historical account of the global transformation of international criminal law after the fall of dictatorships at the end of the 1980s.