International Reports 7/2010

This edition of Auslandsinformationen focuses on the emergence and the work of human rights courts. Institutions such as these have the potential to ensure that human rights are observed in regions where such protection has, up to now, been limited.

by Gerhard Wahlers

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights was established in 1979 on the basis of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR). As an independent body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Court based in Washington D.C., together with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, is appointed to enforce the international law obligations of the American states which arise out of the ACHR and other regional human rights contracts.

by Christian Steiner, Simone Leyers

Unlike the situation in Africa, Latin America or Europe, there has been no regional mechanism for the protection of human rights in place in Asia to date. Only few countries actually have a national commission on human rights. At the same time, the national courts generally don’t exercise a protective function either. The enforceability of fundamental basic rights is therefore only ensured to a very limited extent, if at all, in most countries within Asia.

by Clauspeter Hill

Aktuelle Herausforderungen

Five years after the coming into force of the Protocol on the Establishment of an African court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on 15 December 2009, the court issued its first judgment.1 This case highlighted the limits of the court’s jurisdiction, since the case brought by a Chad national against Senegal was rejected as inadmissible. To date, Senegal, like many other African states, has not yet issued a declaration facilitating actions by individuals. As such, the court was not able to rule on the contents of the legal issues involved.

by Andreas Zimmermann, Jelena Bäumler

An “outpost of tyranny” is how former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the political regime in Burma/Myanmar1 during her time in office. This negative assessment of Myanmar’s political situation is widely shared by the West, meaning primarily the US and Europe, where the media and civil society are closely following developments in the country. While human rights organizations and civil society groups in Asia share this critical assessment, Asian governments are restrained in their criticism of Myanmar’s political regime.

by Wilhelm Hofmeister

President Obama's Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament

On April 8th 2010, the new START treaty between the USA and Russia was signed, which will entail a further reduction in strategic nuclear weapons in both countries. A few days later, an international summit meeting took place at the invitation of the US president, attended by almost all nuclear nations, mostly with their heads of state or heads of government. For Barack Obama, these represent demonstrable successes in the policy he is pursuing towards comprehensive nuclear disarmanent.

by Martin Sieg

Fidesz-KDNP Achieves a Clear Two-Thirds Majority and the Socialists Are Voted Out

The Hungarian parliamentary elections of 11 and 25 April resulted in a changed political landscape. What the opinion research institute had predicted as early as summer 2006 has been made by the Hungarian voters into a real political result: a substantial victory for the opposition Fidesz (Civic Union) and their leader Viktor Orbán.

by Hans Kaiser