Fragmentation in International Human Rights Law: Political Parties and Freedom of Association in the Practice of the UN Human Rights Committee, European Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Abstract

The article is a part of a Special Issue on institutional fragmentation in international human rights law and it focuses on freedom of association as related to political parties. It investigates how this right is being interpreted and applied in three selected jurisdictions – the UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The article starts with analysing the conventional texts regulating the content of the freedom of association and possible limitations states may impose on the exercise of this freedom. It further examines how the freedom of association of political parties is interpreted by three international institutions of human rights protection. Based on an analysis of the conventional texts and the relevant jurisprudence, it investigates whether there is a fragmentation with respect to the freedom of association specific to political parties and what it means for the claim on the universality of human rights.