How have the Inter-American human rights bodies dealt with the notion of war, which has been transformed over time into the notion of (internal and international) " armed conflicts " ? This question has guided the first part of this study, which sets out the various types of conflicts that have occurred in the American continent. These situations (armed conflicts, internal strife, State terrorism) have produced a wide range of legal qualifications, used by both the Inter-American Commission and Court of human rights in their case-law. This conceptual delimitation carried out by these two bodies is all the more important as it affects the law that applies to armed conflicts. Indeed, by analyzing this question, the everlasting debate on the relationship between International Law on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law reappears. The second part of this study therefore focuses on the issue of discovering whether and in which way jus in bello has found its place in the Inter-American Human Rights bodies' case-law. As the active political life of Latin American societies has shown, the study of the different applicable legal regimes also requires looking into the " state of emergency " Law, an issue which has been shaped by the Inter-American Court and Commission's work.

/pdf/war-in-the-jurisprudence-of-the-inter-american-court-of-4d6735t8bh.pdf

" War " in the Jurisprudence of the Inter- American Court of Human Rights

This Article considers the impact, or tremors, of paragraph 70 of the decision on interlocutory appeal on jurisdiction of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in Prosecutor v. Tadic, which was delivered in October 1995. It establishes, and seeks to make clear, that the commitment of the Appeals Chamber in paragraph 70 of that decision was to provide definitions for both of the concepts of international and non-international armed conflicts, even though some impressions might be that the Appeals Chamber tended to run together these different concepts in order to provide a singular and overarching definition of “armed conflict.” In separate and successive turns, the Article explores the specific components of each concept as identified by the Appeals Chamber—first, for international armed conflicts, and, then, for non-international armed conflicts—before testing them against particular facts from practice as well as hypothetical examples, but the Article also makes use of a comparative investigation as to what the Appeals Chamber said for each form of armed conflict when contrasted with each other. We examine the extent to which these components have threaded themselves through subsequent practice—specifically the relationship of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court with the concept of non-international armed conflict—so as to chart the full progress of the jurisprudence of the Appeals Chamber in the afterlife of Tadic: hence the designation of the “tremors” of Tadic.

The Tremors of Tadić

A strong record of human rights protections is an important factor for a state to maintain a positive international reputation. In this article, we suggest that states will use compliance with human rights treaties as a mechanism by which to improve their reputations to help achieve their foreign policy goals. We hypothesize that international human rights compliance is a means to improve a state’s reputation in three specific situations: when the state is facing regional pressures as the result of a desire to join a regional organization; when the state is facing regional pressures not to run afoul of a court within a regional organization; or when a state seeks foreign assistance from an entity with human rights requirements for the receipt of such assistance. We examine our theory by analyzing human rights reports regarding state compliance with specific treaty obligations outlined in the Convention Against Torture (CAT). While the evidence for our hypotheses is mixed, we do find some support for our assertion that state compliance is linked to reputational concerns. In particular, states comply with the CAT when they are part of a regional organization that has a human rights court, and when they are receiving conditional aid from the European Union.

Human Rights as Reputation Builder: Compliance with the Convention Against Torture

How Do Local Subjectivities Interfere with the Domestic Enforcement of International Laws on Corruption in Selected Regions of Tanzania

The Anatomy of Torture: A Documentary History of Filártiga v. Peña-Irala (review)

This new Law Stories title sets the most significant international law cases in their social, political, and historical context. It showcases thirteen essays by leading international law experts. The essays, written in an accessible form, are organized in three groupings: stories about the development of international human rights law, stories about the use of international law in the US legal system, and stories about international law's impact on interstate politics and the global economy. Experienced international law scholars, teachers, and practitioners will discover valuable new insights, and readers new to international law will find that the book quickly immerses them in the core controversies and most significant developments in the field.

Laura A. Dickinson

Papers

International Law Stories