Victims of human rights violations and victims of human rights restrictions

Abstract

The purpose of international human rights law is to protect basic individual rights and provide to the victims of violations legal remedies against the authors of the abuses. One major difficulty faced in this context originates in the limiting clauses that states insert in international conventions. This paper looks at their compatibility with human rights agreements, in the view of strengthening the legal avenues open to the victims and the possibility for them to obtain redress. The crucial position of human rights at the core of the notion of international public order conditions the approach to adopt in relation to most issues that touch upon the scope and substance of protected rights, including withdrawal from treaties, reservations, implied limitations, overtly broad or inappropriate restrictions, misguided interpretations and failure to apply the relevant provisions. It is put forward that limiting clauses should be narrowly construed and most restrictions discarded altogether.