The cost of rights. From constitutionalization to enjoyment of human rights

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Making effective legally or constitutionally recognized rights is costly in many ways, therefore it is difficult (Brinks and Botero, 2014, Ansolabehere, Valdés and Vázquez, 2015, Haglund and Striker, 2015) This panel intends to reflect in a broad sense on the factors and mechanisms that operate to overcome (or not) this difficulty.
The papers presented analyze these difficulties from different approaches and methodologies and address different rights: the right to a life free of violence, access to justice, the right to asylum, the rights of victims of serious violations of human rights, and social and economic rights. Beyond this diversity, they share the premise that there are combinations of factors and mechanisms that make it easier to overcome the difficulty, such as the existence of support structures for implementation, and others that make them difficult as institutional designs that imply important coordination problems.
In short, the contributions seek to shed light on the political processes that are inherent to the realization of rights and involve burocracias, states, courts, as well as political parties, representatives, and different civil society groups.

Sub Track

• Law, Rights, and Citizenship

Session Organizer

• Karina M Ansolabehere, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

Chair

• Francisco Valdés-Ugalde, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM

Individual Presentations

• “Unas por otras”: lessons from collaborative rights enforcement efforts by the Colombian, Argentinean and Indian highest courts - Sandra Botero, Universidad del Rosario

• State performance in the compliance of human rights - Francisco Valdés-Ugalde, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, UNAM

• Mecanismos para (des)activar derechos. El caso de la institucionalidad sobre desapariciones en México - Karina M Ansolabehere, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

• The constitutional right to asylum in Latin America: Does it make a difference? - Stephen E Meili, University of Minnesota