Jurisdiction in international human rights law: application of the European Convention to soldiers deployed overseas

Watkins, RC ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0548-473X, 2018. Jurisdiction in international human rights law: application of the European Convention to soldiers deployed overseas. In: Tiittala, T, ed., Finnish Yearbook of International Law. Hart Series, 24 . Oxford: Hart Publishing for the Finnish Society of International Law, pp. 7-43. ISBN 9781849467469

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Abstract

Jurisdiction has a specific meaning in public international law. As an instrument of regulating inter-state relationships, the laws of jurisdiction ensure mutual respect of sovereignty by largely limiting the lawful reach of states’ power to their own territories – territory being an important concept in notions of statehood and sovereignty. Jurisdiction also appears in human rights law. However, it has been given an altogether different interpretation by human rights treaty bodies. The European Convention on Human Rights obliges states parties to secure and ensure the Convention rights to everyone within their jurisdiction. But what does jurisdiction mean in this sense? In its jurisprudence, the European Court of Human Rights has adopted a number of different conceptions of jurisdiction, ranging from the position in Banković that closely resembled the public international law limitation to territory; to the Al-Skeini judgment that a state’s jurisdiction for the purposes of the Convention extends to anyone under the authority and control of its agents. In this article, I shall examine the European Court’s jurisprudence, exploring the different approaches adopted in a number of key cases. The article also analyses the UK Supreme Court’s approach to the meaning of ‘authority and control’ as it relates to British soldiers deployed overseas. Finally, the article discusses the implications of the human rights notion of jurisdiction without territory.

Item Type:	Chapter in book
Description:	In special section “Sovereignty, territory and jurisdiction”.
Creators:	Watkins, R.C.
Publisher:	Hart Publishing for the Finnish Society of International Law
Place of Publication:	Oxford
Date:	11 January 2018
Volume:	24
ISBN:	9781849467469
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Law School
Record created by:	Jill Tomkinson
Date Added:	05 Sep 2019 14:39
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2019 14:39
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/37578

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