Limitations to Human Rights in Inter-American and European Human Rights Systems

The international human rights system is formed by a network of international and regional instruments and institutions which are interrelated and mutually influencing. The interpretive role of regional institutions and adjudicatory bodies not only defines the substantive scope of a right but also constitutes the rights. The interpretation of limitations is of utmost importance in that regard, as limitations of a right do ascertain the legal content of a right and its normative scope. Limitations to and derogations from human rights obligations lead to concerns about human rights protection, but they should be considered part of a legal continuum since these measures are conditioned by the principle of legality and the concept of a democratic society. Limitation and derogation measures are also regarded as contributing to the evolution of human rights norms rather than challenging or constraining them. Human rights norms emerge through determining justified limitations on rights, with clauses constitutive of rights rather than limitations on them. In that regard, the interpretive role of regional institutions and adjudicatory bodies is of utmost importance as they ascertain the legal and normative scope of the rights. This paper will compare two major regional human rights systems concerning limitation and derogation measures focusing on civil and political rights: Inter-American and European human rights systems. The paper will answer the questions of how Inter-American and European human rights systems implement and interpret limitations to and derogations from human rights. The paper will examine the differences and commonalities between the two regional human rights systems in restricting civil and political rights. Data is collected from primary and secondary sources, including legal texts, court decisions, reports, and books, to answer these questions. Court decisions will offer extensive and in-depth perspectives on the limitations of rights. Various databases, such as WorldCourts and the HUDOC databases for the European Court of Human Rights, will be used to locate judgments and decisions from two regional human rights bodies.