Rights, Security and Conflicting International Obligations: Exploring Inter-Jurisdictional Judicial Dialogues in Europe

72 Pages Posted: 8 Jan 2010

See all articles by Fiona de Londras

Fiona de Londras

Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK; ANU College of Law

Suzanne Kingston

Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin

Date Written: January 7, 2010

Abstract

The European Court of Justice’s decision in Kadi & Al Barakaat has frequently been condemned as a missed opportunity for the Court to engage in a wider international debate about how states’ multiple layers of obligation relate to one another. In this paper, we compare the ECJ’s approach in this case to previous approaches in the Council of Europe, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the EU courts themselves. We argue that the way in which the Court chose to frame the issues in Kadi in fact enabled it to engage in an inter-institutional and inter-organizational international dialogue rejecting dichotomous approaches to security and rights. At the same time, the approach enabled the Court to strengthen its internal constitutional commitment to fundamental rights protection and, a priori, to reject dichotomous counter-terrorist approaches on the local as well as the international level. We therefore present Kadi as a case of key significance for both European and international constitutionalist processes.

Keywords: terrorism, sanctions, European Union, comparative law, Security Council, human rights

JEL Classification: K19, K33

Suggested Citation

de Londras, Fiona and Kingston, Suzanne, Rights, Security and Conflicting International Obligations: Exploring Inter-Jurisdictional Judicial Dialogues in Europe (January 7, 2010). American Journal of Comparative Law, 2010, UCD Research Papers in Law, Criminology & Socio-Legal Studies Research, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1532743

Fiona De Londras (Contact Author)

Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK ( email )

Edgbaston
Birmingham, AL B15 2TT
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/law/staff/profile.aspx?ReferenceId=99740

ANU College of Law ( email )

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601
Australia

Suzanne Kingston

Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland

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