Transnational courts have proliferated in the post World War II era to foster trade and to protect human rights. Although presumably courts in democracies serve to protect human rights within their own national borders, transanational courts on three continents have been established to insure that human rights are not abused. This phenomenon may be explained by the recognition that often national courts, even in democratic regimes, cannot retain sufficient objectivity when a country confronts an emergency, whether national security or natural disaster. This paper explores the role that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has played in securing human rights protections among democracies, countries undergoing redemocratization and those confronting legacies of authoritarian rule. Attention is paid not just to rulings by the Court in Costa Rica, but also to compliance with those rulings.
