Extending Judicial Control in International Law: Human Rights Treaties and Extraterritoriality

This article examines the extraterritorial reach of international human rights treaties, as a way to hold accountable states that perform human rights violations outside of their national boundaries. In order to illustrate this, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are discussed. The final aim of the article is to show that the notion of jurisdiction in international human rights treaties is to be interpreted in light of their distinct purpose.