Allocating human rights obligations in the ECHR

Raible, L. (2024) Allocating human rights obligations in the ECHR. Human Rights Law Review, 24(1), ngad030. (doi: 10.1093/hrlr/ngad030)

Abstract

This article asks how to allocate human rights obligations stemming from the European Convention on Human Rights and defends an interpretivist account of human rights based on the values of integrity and equality to answer it. First, it considers the structure of rights and argues that human rights usually require a duty bearer who needs to be identified. Second, the article analyses interest-based theories of human rights and shows that they do not speak to the allocation of duties. Third, I argue that duties can only be allocated relying on a normative principle and that an interpretivist account of human rights allows for underlying values to be identified. Fourth, I show that these values should be understood to be integrity and equality. Finally, the article applies the framework to the judgment in Carter v Russia, showing that an explicitly normative account supplies principled distinctions where other approaches cannot.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: European Convention on Human Rights, extraterritorial human rights obligations, human rights obligations of non-state actors, Carter v Russia, interpretivism.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Raible, Dr Lea
• Authors: Raible, L.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Law
• Journal Name: Human Rights Law Review
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• ISSN: 1461-7781
• ISSN (Online): 1744-1021
• Published Online: 01 December 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © The Author(s) [2023]
• First Published: First published in Human Rights Law Review 24(1):ngad030
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence