THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

Intergovernmental Organisations (IGOs) create Human Rights instrumentse.g. the UN is the world’s largest IGO

the UN created the ICCPR, which 167 member countries have signed

Some of these instruments create Courts, Tribunals and/or ‘Independent Statutory Authorities’

Thank you Board of Studies…There’s no such thing as an international ‘Independent Statutory Authority’ because there’s no such thing as an international statute (only treaties). They just couldn’t think of the international equivalent name for AN ORGANISATION THAT IS CREATED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF A TREATY.

WE’LL JUST CALL THEM ‘INDEPENDENT AUTHORITIES’

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

It’s unlikely that you’ll get a question specifically about Courts OR Tribunals OR ISAs

WHY?Because it’s not always clear which ones are which – THE LINES ARE BLURRED!

e.g. We know that the High Court in Australia is a court – that’s all it is

The UN Human Rights Committee is SORT OF a court/tribunal, but was CREATED BY a treaty (the ICCPR) – it’s kind of ALL THREE

BUT

IGOInstrument (e.g. Treaty)

Court,Tribunal

or

IndependentAuthority

United Nations

UN Charter ICCPR ICESCR Rome Statute

General Assembly

SecurityCouncil

InternationalCourt of Justice

HumanRights

COMMITTEE

HumanRight

COUNCIL

Committee onEconomic, Social

and CulturalRights

InternationalCriminal Court

Conducts periodic reviews for each country (whether they agree or not) to outline areas where countries need to act on H.R. When the Council targets countries, action is often taken.

NOT REALLY a human rights court, but DOES hear cases about self-determination and human rights violations across borders

NOT MADE to deal with human rights issues, but has now enforced the Responsibility to Protect

Monitors compliance with the ICCPR, but can also hear petitions (cases) from individuals from 112 of the signatory countries e.g. Toonen v Australia (1994)

Monitors compliance with the ICESCR but DOES NOT hear individual cases/petitions

NOT MADE to deal with human rights cases in general, but DOES hear cases of crimes against humanity and genocide (which are also human rights issues)

IGOInstrument (e.g. Treaty)

Court,Tribunal

orIndependent

Authority

Council of Europe

European Convention on Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

Organizationof AmericanStates (OAS)

African Union (AU)

ArabLeague ASEAN

American Conventionon Human Rights

Inter-AmericanCommission onHuman Rights

African Charter onHuman and Peoples’

Rights

African Court ofJustice and

Human Rights

Arab Charter ofHuman Rights

Arab HumanRights Committee

Article 14 of theASEAN Charter

ASEAN Inter-GovernmentalCommission onHuman Rights

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

The European Court of Human Rights

- Oldest H.R. court (since 1959)- Individuals and NGOs are able to bring cases where a member

country of the Council of Europe has violated the European Convention on Human Rights

- It’s the most successful (in terms of compliance)- Now facing serious problems (new members since the 90s,

like Russia and Serbia, which question the authority of the Court to deal with some cases)

- A 70% increase in cases in the last 20 years have led to “fast-track” reforms (changes to finish cases more quickly)

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

- Widespread non-compliance (or only partial compliance). No OAS country has made complete compliance with the rulings of the Commission as part of their domestic law

- Frequent challenges to its authority- A lack of funding (the current system is actually in danger of

collapsing due to the lack of resources and high number of cases (13 lawyers for 50+ cases)

Since 1988, has had to deal with a lot of problems:

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

For BOTH the European and American organisations…

Compliance with payments to victims is pretty good(Europe 70%, Americas 40%+)

Effectiveness is still very low (countries are not changing the way they deal with human rights, they just follow the

immediate rulings)

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

The African Court of Justice and Human Rights

- Since 1988 (recently merged with the ACJ)- CHALLENGE: It will be working amongst some of the world’s

worst Human Rights violations with many countries that have a history of ignoring the rule of law

- They’ve decided that individuals and NGOs will not be able to bring cases against a government (unless the state agrees to this)

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights- Relatively new (since 2009)- Has to fight against ASEAN’s history of “non-interference” in the ‘internal’

matters of ASEAN members- Decisions are made by consensus (so countries like Myanmar and VietNam

are really able to hold back the Committee)- The fact that Myanmar/Burma is even a member of ASEAN doesn’t give it

much credibility (given the horrific human rights abuses by its government that continue now)

- This Commission has been called a “toothless tiger” by many- At the first meeting of the Commission, the families of massacred Filipino

journalists tried bringing their case – the Commission made the decision that IT WON’T HEAR INDIVIDUAL CASES (ASEAN Human Rights Commission Stumbles at First Hurdle (2010))

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human RightsThere is now an ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.

HRW says it sucks, and for lots of reasons, mainly:1. It’s just a Declaration (non-binding)2. It’s full of ‘weasel words’ that let governments

get around affording people their human rights

But the UN has said that it’s better than not having anything.

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration: A step forward or a slide backwards

(The Conversation 2012)

THE ROLES OF:-Intergovernmental Organisations-Courts, Tribunals and Independent Statutory Authorities

OVERALL…There has been a lot of focus on the EXISTENCE of these IGOs, Courts

and Authorities (YAY! We’ve GOT a court!)

There has not been enough focus on COMPLIANCE and the EFFECTIVENESS of these organisations as a means of change (in terms

of respect for human rights) (NO! It’s not working!)

IGOs and Courts IN GENERAL have been struggling with:

1. The massive number of new cases2. The endemic nature of the abuses (a lot of governments are

systematically abusing human rights)3. The frequent challenges to their authority