The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Theory and Practice, Present and Future

Along with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights serves as the main watchdog for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights in the Americas. Drawing on the case law of the Court, this volume analyses crucial developments over the years on both procedural and substantive issues before the Inter-American Court. The book discusses access to legal aid, third party interventions, positive obligations and provisional measures, the evaluation of evidence and the use of external referencing by the Court, the protection of vulnerable groups, including indigenous peoples, migrants, women and children. It also explores other contemporary issues such as coerced statements, medical negligence, the use of force, amnesties, forced disappearances, the right to water, judicial protection in times of emergency, the relation of the Inter-American Court with national courts and with other international jurisdictions like the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court, and with national courts, reparations and revisions of cases by the Inter-American Court, and present-day challenges to the Inter-American system of human rights. Due to its multifaceted and comprehensive character, this scholarly volume is an essential reference work for both legal scholars and practitioners working with regional human rights systems in general and with the Inter-American human rights system in particular.

Oswaldo R. Ruiz-Chiriboga, Ph.D. researcher at the Human Rights Centre, Ghent University (Belgium); LLM in Human Rights and International and European Law, Utrecht University (Netherlands); LLM in International Criminal Law, Granada University (Spain); Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Argumentation, Alicante University (Spain); Postgraduate Diploma in Human Rights, Universidad Andina Simn Bolvar (Ecuador); Postgraduate Diploma in Human Rights and Democracy, Pontificia Universidad Catlica del Ecuador. Former senior staff attorney of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and former senior staff attorney of the NGO Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). His main research interests are International and Inter-American Human Rights Law, indigenous peoples rights, and Constitutional Law. He is the founder and administrator of the first blog on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, reporting periodically on the Court's case-law and academic articles related to the Court. Clara Burbano Herrera is a Research Professor of Human Rights Law at the Faculty of Law and Criminology, and Director of the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context at Ghent University (Belgium). Prof Dr Burbano-Herrera is also guest professor at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), and the University of Pretoria (South Africa), and affiliate research professor at the University of Bergen (Norway). Previously, she was a Fulbright Senior Researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (USA), a visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Germany), and a postdoctoral researcher of the Flanders Research Foundation (FWO) (Belgium). Prof Dr Burbano-Herrera has broad research interests in international human rights law, comparative regional human rights systems and constitutional law. Her research lies on the intersection between international law and human rights, and relates to the role of international human rights organs in the prevention of violation of human rights, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups. She has lived and spent most of her academic life conducting socio-legal research in diverse countries. Clara holds a PhD in Law (Ghent University), a Master after Master in Fundamental Rights, magna cum laude(University Carlos III, Spain), a Master after Master in Constitutional Law, first of the class, summa cum laude, best student award (National University of Colombia), and a Master of Laws, magna cum laude (University of Los Andes, Colombia). With her research Clara has been awarded the Dutch Prince Bernhard Price for Innovative Research.She is co-founder and Executive member of the Inter-American Human Rights Network, co- founder of the Inter-American & European Human Rights Journal, co-founder and Director of the Programme for Studies on Human Rights in Context, and Editor-in-Chief of the Human Rights in Context Blog (https://www.humanrightsincontext.be/blog).