Operation Protective Edge & Legal Remedies | Ifi Working Paper

Working Paper | October 2014
Operation Protective Edge & Legal Remedies by Noura Erakat, Bianca Isaias, and Salmah Rizvi
This briefing paper provides a non-exhaustive survey of the legal fora in which Palestinians have sought, or can seek, legal redress. These include international courts, in particular the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and special tribunals; national courts under universal jurisdiction as well as the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) in US federal courts; and human rights bodies and mechanisms like the Human Rights Council, and human rights treaty bodies. The research will show that power and politics have impeded Palestinians’ access to successful judicial redress. While there may still be value to pursuing these claims within legal fora, they must be complemented by effective extra-legal strategies aimed at cultivating political will among states as well as grassroots non-state actors.

For purposes of this paper, accountability is defined as a state’s commitment to respect, uphold and adhere to international customary norms as well as legislated laws explicitly endorsed by states, in particular, humanitarian and human rights law. This includes a third-party state’s duty to comport with recommendations issued by multilateral legal bodies aimed at shaping the behavior of a non-complying state. While recognizing that a state-centric system is incapable of adequately protecting and ensuring the well-being of persons and peoples, this briefing paper assesses how accountability can be approximated within these distorting and imperfect bounds.

Publisher: 
Issam Fares Institute For Public Policy And International Affairs
تاريخ النشر: 
الأربعاء, 1 أكتوبر 2014
نوع المورد: 
Studies and Reports
ملف: 
Human Rights & Protection
حلة: 
Human Rights & Protection