Nordisk Tidsskrift for Menneskerettigheter Vol. 25 Nr. 3:2007:

English abstracts

EMD-Dommers Bindingsvirkning etter EMK artikkel 46(1) sett i lys av den tyske forfatningsdomstolens behandling av Görgülü-sakene
By Michael Reiertsen

Abstract: This article gives an introduction to the binding effect of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights (the European Court) as regulated in article 46(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It then analyses how the German Constitutional Court in a decision 14 October 2004 (Görgülü) foresaw that the binding effect of judgments from the European Court was to be understood in German law. The decision from the German Constitutional Court came shortly after the European Court in the case of Görgülü v. Germany found that Germany both had and was violating article 8 of the ECHR. The German Constitutional Court had ample opportunities to discuss what impact the decision from the European Court should have in Germany. The author makes some comparisons with the situation in Norway and concludes that the Constitutional Court not necessarily is to be followed.
Key words: Binding effect of judgments, ECHR article 46, Görgülü v. Germany

Liberalism, Tolarence and Human Rights
By Robert Huseby

Abstract: In his influential book The Law of Peoples, John Rawls extends some of his central thoughts on a reasonably just constitutional democracy to the international community. This article argues that Rawls’s theory of international justice is at odds with important elements of liberal political theory. One of the main reasons for this incompatibility is that Rawls applies an implausible concept of tolerance. This concept threatens to undermine the justification of liberalism itself, including the freedom of speech.
Key words: Human Rights, Law of Peoples, Rawls, Tolerance

Justice for Peace in Africa
By Inger Östedahl

Abstract: The article focuses on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It looks particularly at how the issues of justice and peace are mirrored in the statutes and working of the tribunals. The two African tribunals are compared with the ICC as to the latter’s relationship to issues of war and peace on the one hand and to Africa on the other. The article opens with an account of UN Security Council practice relating to justice and peace since the early 1990s when criminal justice emerged as an organizing principle of international action.
Key words: criminal accountability, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Special Court for Sierra Leone, international justice