The efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: A Socio-legal study based on the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerning Amnesty Laws, Indigenous Rights, and Rights of Detainees

Abstract

This study intends to perform a reappraisal of the efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. To this end, the thesis is structured around three fundamental questions that express the main objectives of this inquiry: (i) How should we account for the efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and its decisions as they impact the human rights regime and normative, institutional and social structures of global society? (ii) To what degree has the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and its aggregate jurisprudence contributed to the process of concretisation of human rights norms? (iii) Has the Inter-American Court and its decisions contributed to the redress of victims of human rights violations in the fields of amnesty laws, indigenous rights and rights of detainees? In order to provide a solid response to these questions, this study carries out a comprehensive empirical analysis of the efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisprudence on amnesty laws, indigenous rights, and the rights of detainees. Assuming a victim-centred point of observation, this analysis will consider multiple dimensions of global society. The principle contributions of this thesis are two-fold: (i) the advancement of a model of “efficacy chain” to support comprehensive sociological and legal analysis of international court’s efficacy and (ii) a revision, empirical supported, of the effects of decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Christopher Thornhill (Supervisor) & Jean D'Aspremont (Supervisor)