by Rhodri C. Williams
The Guardian informs about a new report slated for release in June by the UN’s special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson. The report is said to propose “automatic legal rights to compensation and rehabilitation” for terror victims “under far-reaching changes to rebalance international law in favour of victims”:
The Emmerson report, if accepted, would have the effect of obliging all UN states to adopt a uniform set of standards, establishing more firmly in international law the principle that terrorist acts amount to violations of the human rights of the victims, irrespective of the question of direct or indirect state responsibility.
Sound intriguing? At first blush, this certainly seems to go beyond developments such as recent European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence requiring states to provide reparation to victims of foreseeable disasters that the state did not take reasonable steps to mitigate (on which, see Walter Kälin and Claudine Haenni here).
The text of the article implies a scoop, breathily citing details of the report “which have been obtained” by the Observer. However, fortunately for the rest of us, the entire draft report can be “obtained” by downloading it directly from the Rapporteur’s website. And it is worth a read, particularly paragraphs 49-63 on reparations.
Interestingly, the Special Rapporteur has not created an entirely ex gratia framework, but rather extended the notion of the state’s positive obligation to prevent terrorism based on a victim-centered approach. The idea that victims have undertaken an involuntary sacrifice on behalf of the state is endorsed (para 54), and the fact that it is virtually impossible to seek reparations from the perpetrators of terrorism is asserted as “perhaps the most fundamental point” (para 56). However, the existence of a human rights-based ‘duty to protect’ from terrorism appears to play a significant role:
…the determination of State responsibility for an alleged failure to take positive operational steps to prevent an act of terrorism can be fraught with evidential difficulties. If the approach advocated by the Special Rapporteur is followed, States will be under an obligation to provide reparation without imposing an additional burden on the victims or their next-of-kin to prove conclusively that public officials were at fault. (para 55)
Curiously, the report cites the Van Boven-Bassiouni Principles (at para 51), but only on the basic point of substantive reparations for rights violations, but not the implication in paragraph 15 thereof that the state should assume up-front responsibility for repairing rights violations by non-state actors, with the ability to later seek indemnification from the real perpetrators:
In accordance with its domestic laws and international legal obligations, a State shall provide reparation to victims for acts or omissions which can be attributed to the State and constitute gross violations of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law. In cases where a person, a legal person, or other entity is found liable for reparation to a victim, such party should provide reparation to the victim or compensate the State if the State has already provided reparation to the victim.
The section ends with an interesting discussion of the significant body of domestic law and practice that already exists in this area. According to the Guardian, the report is to be “presented to the UN human rights council in Geneva on 20 June and the general assembly in New York on 28 June” and already enjoys significant backing. Definitely one to watch.
Chilean court orders compensation for tsunami damages
by Rhodri C. Williams
Having apologized for their failure to protect victims of the Pinochet regime three decades ago, Chilean courts have now staked out a progressive position in responding to charges of government negligence that exacerbated the effects of the tsunami three years ago. According to the BBC, Chile’s Supreme Court awarded $100,000 to the survivors of Mr. Mario Ovando, who died as a result of a fatal blunder.
As described here in response to a UN report on reparations for victims of terrorism, the Chilean Supreme Court ruling fits into a recent pattern of establishing higher duties of care for state authorities in the face of events once written off as ‘acts of God’. And as noted by the BBC, the current case is likely to herald many more suits by other victims of the Navy’s faulty diagnosis. As such ‘pounds of cure’ accumulate in national and regional practice, one can only hope they will highlight the relative attractiveness of ounces of prevention.
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Posted in Commentary
Tagged adjudication, Chile, compensation, Constitutional Courts, disaster, reparations, rule of law