A Barren Effort? The Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Jus Cogens

Ignacio Alvarez Rio 

Utrecht University School of Law

Diana Contreras-Garduño 

Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Utrecht University
May 31, 2013

Haeck,Y., McGonigle, B., Burbano-Herrera, C., and Contreras-Garduno, D. (eds.), The Realization of Human Rights: When Theory Meets Practice: Studies in Honour of Leo Zwaak (Intersentia, Antwerp, 2013), Forthcoming 
Abstract:      
Since its codification by the adoption of Article 53 of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties, jus cogens norms have been shrouded by the absence of clarity in both the scope and content. Despite the International Court of Justice’s primary competence in defining jus cogens norms, this Court has been very reluctant in defining them, and it thus, has provided little aid to its understanding. Contrary to the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a regional human rights tribunal, has continuously expanded the content of jus cogens through its jurisprudence. Yet, wherein lies the competence for a regional human rights court to interpret the Vienna Convention and thereby identifying the highest norm in international law?

Number of Pages in PDF File: 32

Keywords: Jus cogens, Article 53 of the VCLT, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, International Court of Justice

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2308878