Promoting the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights: The (Potential) Role of National Human Rights Institutions

The acknowledgment that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Committee of Ministers are flooded with repetitive cases has brought increasing attention to the issue of full and timely execution of the Court’s judgments. Efforts have been made to render the system of supervision of the execution more transparent, independent, and participatory. The involvement of actors other than the intergovernmental Committee of Ministers appears particularly significant. This dissertation focuses on specific entities that, while somewhat neglected in the literature, would seem to be ideally situated to promote the execution of ECtHR judgments – i.e., National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), which are commonly portrayed as “bridges” between the State and civil society, and between the national and international levels. The dissertation provides a comprehensive examination of the current level of engagement by NHRIs with the Committee of Ministers for furthering the execution of ECtHR judgments. Participating NHRIs have generally provided detailed information on the state of legislation, administrative practice, and case-law in their respective countries, and they have proposed measures to prevent future human rights violations. Nonetheless, the findings show that a relatively low number of NHRIs have submitted communications to the Committee of Ministers to date and that the impact of these communications on the actions undertaken by States and the decisions adopted by the Committee of Ministers is often difficult to assess. The activities carried out by NHRIs at the domestic level to encourage the execution of ECtHR judgments are also systematically identified with a view to illustrating the multifarious ways in which NHRIs can contribute to the execution process. On the basis of these findings, the dissertation highlights and accounts for the unfulfilled potential of NHRIs in promoting the execution of ECtHR judgments; it further puts forward proposals to strengthen the involvement of NHRIs in the process

Land, Natural Resources, and Environmental Protection in the Juba Peace Agreement

That competition over degrading land and shrinking natural resources—exacerbated by climate change—has played a role in Sudan’s and Darfur’s conflicts is widely accepted, even though assessments differ as to the extent of such a role. The Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) reflects this reality by devoting considerable space to issues such as land possession, cooperation between herders and farmers, sustainable management of natural resources, and environmental protection. Accordingly, this article analyzes the provisions of the JPA that are concerned with land and environment-related aspects; and it gives a preliminary assessment of their implementation. The article concludes that while the JPA shows considerable awareness of the critical role that the protection of the environment and sound management of natural resources can play in building more peaceful societies, the implementation of the relevant provisions is currently very limited. A bottom-up approach, which genuinely involves all Sudan’s regions and sectors of society, appears indispensable for the effective implementation of the provisions in question and for sustainable peace in Sudan