The legal status of decisions by human rights treaty bodies in national law

Abstract

The success of UN human rights treaty monitoring mechanisms (such as the Human Rights Committee) depends largely on the influence that the findings of these bodies exert on national legal orders. This paper examines the effects that national courts can and do give to such findings. It examines, on the basis of available data on the practice of national courts, whether and how decisions of treaty bodies acquire legal effect at the national level and more in particular in the practice of national courts.