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Human Rights Law and Practice Homepage

This Human Rights Law Homepage is created to provide information on human rights and how individuals can use the law to protect their rights. It is maintained by an international human rights lawyer as a volunteer undertaking and no responsibility can be accepted for the consequence of relying on any information on this homepage. Anyone wishing legal representation can contact Dr. Curtis Francis Doebbler at e-mail human_rights_lawyer@writeme.com or telephone +1-202-248-1411 or by clicking on the automatic e-mail link at the bottom of this page if your browser permits Internet mail.

Human Rights Law Updates



Volunteers are always sought to work on cases before the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights, and African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights. If you are interested please contact me at one of the points of contact below.

International Human Rights Law

International human rights law consists mainly of the treaties that a specific state has ratified. It may also consist of customary international law, but this law is more difficult to enforce. International instruments include both universal and regional instruments. All states can become party to universal instruments, while only states in a region or regional organization can usually become party to the regional international human rights instruments. Some of the newest regional instruments opened for ratification are the Arab Charter of Human Rights and the protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights creating an African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights.

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In the future the below space will contain links on human rights and lists of the states party to different treaties.

Human Rights protected (and to come: the treaties articles at which they are found): Examples: *the right to life: art. 6 ICCPR
*the right to humane treatment: art. 3 ECHR
*the freedom of expression
*the freedom of assembly
*the freedom of association
*the freedom of thought, conscience and religion
*the right to a fair trial
*the right to participate in your county's government
*the right to enjoy your property without interference
*the right not to be detained arbitrarily
*the right not to be detained for failure to pay a contractual obligation


Ratifications: ICCPR=International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR=International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
CRC=Convention on the Rights of the Child
CERDAW=Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

CAT=Cnvention Against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment
CERD=Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 4GC=Four Geneva Conventions (for example, POWs, shipwrecked, and civilians) PI=the first Protocol to the 4GC on international armed conflicts
PII=the second Protocol to the 4GC on non-international armed conflicts
ACHPR=Afrcian Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
ECHR=European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Freedoms and Human Rights
ACHR=American Convention on Human Rights

Example: Sudan: ICCPR, ICESCR, RC, CERD, 4GC, ACHPR United States: ICCPR, RC, 4GC

International Human Rights Practice

Individuals can often complain about violations of their human rights to international bodies. These bodies are usually treaty bodies or none treaty bodies.

The Treaty Bodies to which individual complaints may be brought within the United Nations system are:
1. Human Rights Committee--after the First Optional Protocol has been ratified by the state.
2. Committee Against All Forms of Racial Discrimination--where the state has made a declaration under article 14 of the Convention.
3. Committee Against Torture--where the state has made a declaration under article 22 of the Convention.
4. The Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workrs and their Families--where the state has made a declaration under article 77 of the Convention.
5.
the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women--where the state has ratified the new opional protocol to the Convention.

Individuals can also send information to several treaty bodies that do not currently allow individual communications:
the Committee on the Rights of the Child. And there are some non-treaty or Charter bodies that accept communications such as:
1. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
2. The Working Group on Forced Disappearances and Summary Executions.
3. The Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

Regional Bodies that accept individual petitions include:
1. The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights,
2. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the Court), and,
3. European Commission on Human Rights (the Court).

To make an individual complaint to most of the international or regional bodies an individual has to have satisfy several conditions:
*The State against whom a complaint is brought must be a party to the treaty--or in the case of the Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights the violation must be widespread and quite severe.
*The individual must first exhaust domestic remedies. This means that every reasonable avenue for redress under national law must have been tried. Only after the exhaustion of national remedies is a case possible before an international body. An exception may be when the domestic remedies are inadequate or untrustworthy, but if this is the case you must be able to prove it.
*The violation must relate to a right that is guaranteed by an international human rights convention that has been ratified (not only signed) by the state against which you are complaining. To determine this you might need legal advice and you can always write me at the e-mail address below for a free and non-obligatory opinion--if condition number one is satisfied.
*The wrong or violation of human rights must be a state--i.e. a government, its police, civil servants, soldiers, etc., although it may include a government's failure to stop a private actor from doing something that violates human rights.


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The rights for which you can bring a claim to one of the above bodies will depend on the human rights treaties that your country has ratified. Also note, that some treaties require that a country sign a separate treaty allowing individuals to bring claims or that the country make a special declaration under an article of the treaty--these requirements are in addition to ratifying a treaty. Also note that there is a difference between signing a treaty and ratifying a treaty. When a treaty is only signed, but not ratified, you can not make a claim to the relevant treaty body. When a treaty is ratified and any other conditions (protocol or declaration) are fulfilled then you it is legally binding and you can make a claim.

An odd exception is petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Petitions to this body can be brought against any state party to the Organization of American States. These petitions will be considered under the Declaration of the Rights of Man which is not a binding treaty, but which the Commission nevertheless supervises. Cases can be, and have been, brought against countries such as the United States and Canada under the Commission's general jurisdiction for ensuring human rights in the OAS states.

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Human rights which you may complain about usually include:

**the right to fair trial:
If you are arrested are you brought before a judge quickly (within a few hours or a couple of days at most)?
Is the judge that is sitting at our trial or hearing impartial? That means is he independent and able to make a decision on your case without undue influence from the arresting authorities or other state authorities?
Have you been allowed to see a lawyer and discuss your case with him or her in detail and in private?
If you need a translator, is one provided?
there are many similar questions that can rise about the fairness of a trial.

**the right to freedom of expression:
Have you been stopped from expressing your opinion?

**the right to freedom of religion:
Are you being persecuted for changing your religion?
Are you being persecuted for practising your religion?
Are you being persecuted because you do not have a religion?

**the right to be treated humanely:
Have you been beaten by police or security officials?

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Although it is best to get a lawyer to represent you if you are taking a case to one of these bodies, it is not necessary and you can submit a case yourself.

More about the individual behind this Homepage

This page is maintained by Dr. Curtis Francis Doebbler, an international human rights lawyer. By clicking on the underlined and highlighted title above you can visit my homepage. By clicking on the e-mail address below you can send me an e-mail.

As I am an international human rights lawyer with broad international experience, please feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance to you on a specific problem. Even if you don't have any money or you know someone whose human rights ae being violated (and they have no money), please do not hesitate to contact me. I cannot always help, but if I can, I will.

This page has been created to encourage individuals to use international human rights law in practical situations.