Preventing Irreparable Harm

Provisional Measures in International Human Rights Adjudication
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-90-5095-931-5
Verlag: Intersentia Publishers

Buch, Englisch, 1200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 170 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 1792 g

Reihe: School of Human Rights Research

International human rights adjudicators, while facing urgent cases, have used provisional measures in order to prevent irreparable harm, e.g. to order States to halt an expulsion, the execution of a death sentence, destruction of the natural habitat, or to ensure access to health care in detention or protection against death threats.

In the practice of the various adjudicators the traditional concept of provisional measures has undergone a process of humanisation. This book addresses the question how such provisional measures can be made as persuasive as possible. Apart from the Inter-American Court, none of the human rights adjudicators motivate or publish their provisional measures. Yet this book analyses their (best) practices and obstacles, determines the underlying rationale for their use of provisional measures and establishes the core of the concept of provisional measures that all adjudicators have in common. It argues that clarity on what belongs to the core of the concept, and on what does not belong to the concept at all, enhances the persuasive force of provisional measures.

The practices of the international adjudicators made accessible in this book may prove useful in the ongoing cross-fertilization occurring among these adjudicators. Moreover, the analysis provided allows individual victims, their counsel, NGOs as well as international institutions to address more effectively urgent human rights cases.

About this book:

‘Rieter’s book is a very worthwhile and sorely needed reference. Overall, the book provides a comprehensive and organized explanation of provisional measures and the bodies that may issue them. Its most important contribution is found in the middle chapters addressing the various situations and kinds of harm previously addressed by human rights tribunals when granting provisional measures, although the practical suggestions to human rights tribunals are also surely welcome. Researchers, human rights defenders and the tribunals themselves will find much in Rieter’s volume to strengthen and enrich their work. Ideally, the information it contains will contribute not only to better understanding of provisional measures, but also to coherence in, and progressive development of, this area of the law.’
X on internationalhumanrightslaw.org (2010))

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rieter, Eva

Über Autor(innen)

Rieter, Eva
Eva Rieter studied law at Maastricht University (Master of Dutch law, specialization international law, 1995). She went on to obtain an LL.M degree at the University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M. 1996, specializations human rights law and US law), where she also worked as a research assistant for Prof. R.B. Lillich and received the McClure Fellowship in human rights.

She joined the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights in 1997. In 1999 she received a Max van der Stoel Human Rights award for her article ‘Interim Measures by the World Court to Suspend the Execution of an Individual: the Breard Case’. She has published a range of articles and is the co-author. She has taught public international law and human rights at Maastricht University School of Law and University College Maastricht.

Currently she is senior researcher and assistant professor at Radboud University Nijmegen.