Non-Compliance with Concluding Observations of the HRC in the Netherlands: The ECHR and the ECtHR as one Explanation

Abstract

This paper examines the implementation of recommendations (COs) of the HRC (HRC) monitoring the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the Netherlands. The main conclusion of this paper is that -the legally non-binding- COs for the Netherlands have proved to be ineffective in terms of securing compliance. That is to say, COs hardly ever lead to policy changes that are the result of those recommendations. This outcome stands in sharp contrast with the considerable influence of the ICCPR at the domestic level, especially in terms of governmental and Parliamentary attention and its role in the legislative process and legal practice. This paper addresses the factors that influence states to comply with the COs with the objective of explaining the causal mechanisms leading to compliance. The paper especially focuses on the instances during which the Government has tried to justify its noncompliance with COs on the basis of the ECHR and especially the jurisprudence of the ECtHR. This paper attributes this line of defense to the dominance of the ECHR in the Dutch legal order, as a result of which other (UN) human rights treaties are often overlooked.