State Responsibility and the Individual

Reparation in Instances of Grave Violations of Human Rights
1. Auflage 1999
ISBN: 978-90-411-1147-0
Verlag: Wolters Kluwer

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, GB, Format (B × H): 166 mm x 243 mm, Gewicht: 1460 g

The book reviews the modern tendency to recognize individuals aggrieved by a (grave) violation of their rights as holders of claims to reparation directly under international law. Indeed, the European as well as the American Convention on Human Rights empower the relevant Courts to grant appropriate compensation to any person whose complaint is successful. Under general international law, however, this tendency still lacks solid foundations, although a draft declaration currently pending before the UN Human Rights Commission (`van Boven Principles') would confirm the individual's entitlement to reparation as a matter of international law. Likewise, some US Courts have already tried to entertain suits against foreign States in instances of egregious human rights violations. At first glance, to accept persons victims of grave violations as actors at the level of international law seems to be a big step forward, strengthening significantly the regime of human rights. Yet care must be taken not to lose sight of the advantages of the traditional configuration according to which the State alone is entitled to assert reparation claims in cases where its nationals have suffered injury at the hands of another State. In particular, the consequences of developments of catastrophic dimensions like wars cannot be sensibly settled in the same way as any other tort claim. At the inter-State level, in particular, globalization of reparation is indispensable. To apply the simple maxim that all the consequences of an internationally wrongful act must be wiped out would in many instances be tantamount to negating the possibility ever to make a fresh start after a devastating international conflict.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Randelzhofer, Albrecht

Tomuschat, Christian

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationale Menschen- und Minderheitenrechte, Kinderrechte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword.
Individual Reparation Claims in Instances of Grave Human Rights Violations: The Position under General International Law; C. Tomuschat.
Individual Reparation Claims under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: The Practice of the Human Rights Committee; E. Klein.
Compensation for Human Rights Violations: The Practice of the Past Decade in the Americas; W.M. Reisman.
Individual Reparation Claims under the European Convention on Human Rights; M. Pellonpää.
International Obligations to Provide for Reparation Claims? R. Pisillo-Mazzeschi.
Reparation for Human Rights Violations Committed by the Apartheid Regime in South Africa; L. Fernandez.
The United Nations Compensation Commission; N. Wühler.
The Legal Position of the Individual under Present International Law; A. Randelzhofer.
Rehabilitation and Compensation of Victims of Human Rights Violations Suffered in East Germany (1945-1990); B. Fassbender.
Documentary Annex.
Table of Cases.
Participants.