Suchergebnisse

Though many of the longest and most devastating internal armed conflicts have been fought within the boundaries of democratic states, these countries employ some of the highest numbers of human rights prosecutions. What conditions prompt this outcome and what explains the variable patterns of prosecutions in democracies at war? Prosecutions may be enabled by existing democratic norms and institutions, but given their role in a violent conflict, democratic governments may go to great lengths to avoid judicial accountability. Through qualitative and quantitative research of four cases, Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland, Spain and Colombia, this book argues that emergency and anti-terrorism laws issued during the conflict created barriers to the investigation and prosecution of state human rights violations. The extent to which state actors were held accountable was shaped by citizens, NGOs and political actors who challenged or upheld impunity provisions within emergency legislation.

Intro -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- List of Graphs -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- The Universe of Cases: Democracies at War -- The Relationship Between Emergency Laws and Human Rights Prosecutions -- Historical Institutionalism and Emergency Law -- Gradual Institutional Change -- The Emergency Institution -- Types of Institutional Change -- The Conditions Shaping Gradual Institutional Change: Political Context (Veto Power), the Characteristics of the Institution (Rule Interpretation and Enforcement), and Change Agents -- Explaining Human Rights Prosecutions in Democracies at War -- Agents of Change -- Independent Oversight of Executive Emergency Powers -- Judicial Review of Emergency Laws -- Judicial Independence -- Regional Human Rights Courts -- The Argument of the Book -- Data and Methodology -- Implications of the Research -- Overview of the Book -- Bibliography -- Chapter 2: Human Rights Prosecutions and Institutional Continuity in Sri Lanka -- Historical Background to the Conflict in Sri Lanka -- The Emergency Institution in Sri Lanka -- The History of Emergency Laws in Sri Lanka -- Immunity Clauses in Emergency Legislation -- Clauses on Inquests and Post-mortems in Emergency Legislation -- The Absence of Independent Oversight of Executive Emergency Powers -- Judicial Review Powers -- Judicial Independence -- The Absence of a Regional Human Rights Court -- Human Rights Prosecution Data -- Prosecutions During the Kumaratunga Administration -- The Final Years of the War: "Talking About Rights Is Irrelevant at Best"101 -- Future Accountability and the Emergency Institution -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3: Conversion, Layering, and Human Rights Prosecutions in Northern Ireland -- Historical Background to the Conflict in Northern Ireland -- The Emergency Institution in Northern Ireland15.