Menschenrechtsschutz durch Individualbeschwerdeverfahren Ein regionaler Vergleich aus historischer, normativer und faktischer Perspektive

The individual application procedure of the European Convention on Human Rights is well analyzed due to its unique success. However, concentrating on the European complaint instrument bears the risk of a too Eurocentric approach. Individual applications can also be found in the human rights treaties of the Organization of American States and the African Union. This article aims for a comparison of these instruments in order to contribute to a better understanding of institutional and procedural human rights protection. To provide a thorough analysis, it takes a historical, a normative and a de facto perspective. In a normative view on the contemporary institutional and procedural aspects, the European Court of Human Rights stands out by granting direct access to a judicial procedure. However, the contentious jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights is in some respect even broader than the ECHR's due to less restriction being imposed on the admissibility of individual applications. In contrast, proceedings at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights suffer from several deficiencies, for example, with regard to transparency and procedural rights of the applicant. Considering the practical effectiveness of individual applications, the European system clearly serves as a role model, albeit its influence being far more limited in Eastern Europe. Judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have a remarkable implementation rate. In Latin-America as well as in Africa, nevertheless, comparable disadvantageous socio-political factors limit the practical impact of individual applications. Examples are a poor national human rights situation in average, a low level of education and social inequality. The African human rights institutions still need to establish effective individual human rights protection. Yet, contemporary characteristics of individual application procedures are only temporary results of a continuing historical development. Noticeable patterns are found in the way regional human rights systems successively overcome concerns of state sovereignty. In this process, courts and commissions play an important role by progressively interpreting treaty provisions and creating rules of procedure that expand their competences. This gives rise to hope that the »progressive evolution« of the individual application procedure will continue.