Project

Evidence in International Human Rights Adjudication

Acronym
DISSECT
Code
41H04520
Duration
01 October 2020 → 30 September 2026
Funding
European funding: framework programme
Principal investigator
Research disciplines
  • Social sciences
    • Comparative law
    • Human rights law
    • Legal theory, jurisprudence and legal interpretation
    • Ethnicity and migration studies
Keywords
Human Rights evidence
Other information
 
Project description

Evidence is at the heart of adjudication, and adjudication at the heart of the international protection of human rights. Yet evidence in international human rights (IHR) adjudication has never been comprehensively studied. Benefiting from the support of highest-level figures in the relevant institutions, DISSECT is a ground-breaking research programme which will capture the evidentiary regimes in place in the world’ three regional human rights courts and in UN human rights quasijudicial bodies.

First, DISSECT will examine from a purely legal perspective the formal and informal rules and practices (‘egime’ which govern the treatment of evidence in IHR adjudication - burden and standard of proof and evidence admissibility, collection, submission, assessment and scope. It will do so across institutions, types of complaints and time. Second, it will examine the political underpinnings and uses of the IHR evidentiary regime, including dismissals of politically sensitive complaints on the pretext that they are not sufficiently evidenced by the victim. Third, it will identify ‘est’and ‘orst’practices and generate specific recommendations for use in IHR adjudication. Fourth, it will develop new insights on evidence, truth and power and thus create a new strand in Critical Legal Studies.

These ambitious aims will be achieved by harnessing not only legal doctrinal methods of research but also, and crucially, the PI’ rare double training as a lawyer and an anthropologist. This will allow the IHR evidentiary regime to be studied as a social phenomenon (rather than merely ‘in context’.

DISSECT is urgently needed by victims of human rights abuse who seek international redress without knowing exactly what evidence is required of them, as well as by IHR adjudicatory bodies at risk of losing their legitimacy if they cannot demonstrate that they are acting logically, consistently and fairly. Current concerns over ‘ruth decay’make it particularly timely

 
 
 
Disclaimer
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA). Neither the European Union nor the authority can be held responsible for them.