Constitutional amendment and international human rights standards: a multilevel approach with particular focus on the Spanish case

Abstract

The present paper focuses on the influence of international human rights standards in constitutional review procedures, by taking the internationalisation of the constituent function as the main premise in parallel with the internationalisation of human rights. With this in mind, the author submits to scrutiny the positive impact of both universal (United Nations) and regional human rights standards (including comparative approaches to the European and Inter-American human rights) on the adoption of new constitutional provisions (with special focus on Spain). From this perspective, the author also emphasises the complementary synergies between international and national jurisdictions as an ordinary mechanism to defend the national constitutional order in the light of international human rights instruments. The paper concludes that, while international human rights standards are modified to adjust themselves to new needs and realities, such external modifications may require constitutional amendments via a positive exercise of the constituent function.