Regional Arrangements

If your landlord in Andheri ignores a court order, you can go to a higher court in your own country. But what if the State itself is the wrongdoer, and its courts have already said no? Human rights lawyers asked that question after the Second World War, and three regions answered it in three different ways. Europe built a court that individuals can approach directly, the Americas built a commission and a court in series, and Africa wrote a charter that speaks of peoples and duties as well as individuals. India belongs to none of these systems. Why study them, then?

In two minutes

Europe (European Convention 1950, Court at Strasbourg), the Americas (American Convention 1969, Commission and Court) and Africa (Charter of 1981, Commission and Court) each created a regional treaty with its own supervisory body; they matter for India as comparative models and persuasive authority, not as binding law.

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