Accountability in human rights law: an introduction to remedies

Dinah Shelton

Chapter 22 in Research Handbook on Accountability for Human Rights Violations, 2025, pp 393-405 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: A commonly used English-language dictionary defines accountability as ‘liable to be required to give account, as of one's actions of the discharge of a duty or trust.’ ‘Liable’ suggests a legal responsibility, including the possibility of being required to pay damages. A synonym given is ‘responsible.’ This contribution will review the law of remedies, especially as concerns accountability for perpetrators of human rights abuses. It first considers the textual references in human rights treaties, then turns to the law of state responsibility, before examining soft law texts and the practice of UN treaty bodies. Even though such texts and practices are not legally binding, they have had a considerable impact on state practice. Nearly all international human rights bodies and institutions have contributed to the development of laws and practices to implement norms and law on accountability for victims of human rights violations, principally for abuses committed by state actors, but also, in a more limited manner, for violations perpetrated by non-state actors. The legal framework for such actions is contained in numerous treaty provisions that refer generally to obligations to redress harm. These provisions have been given further detail in resolutions and decisions of United Nations organs and treaty bodies.

Keywords: Access to justice; Reparations; Compensation; Restitution; Satisfaction; Damages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035306923
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