PhD Candidate: Accountability for Human Rights Violations

Human rights violations often occur in complex situations involving multiple actors such as armed conflicts, mega sporting events and climate change. Frequently, various legal regimes operating at different levels (international, regional and national) apply to these actors. Hence, it is difficult to hold the involved actors accountable, which in turn may lead to accountability gaps and impunity. As a PhD candidate, you will examine human rights accountability in this complex context.

Many actors contributed to the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, in which over 8,000 men and boys were killed: the Bosnian Serb army that committed the genocide, the state of Yugoslavia which provided support, as well as the UN and the Netherlands through Dutchbat which failed to protect the enclave. Yet not all actors have been held to account for their involvement. Only a few perpetrators were convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY); according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) the state of Yugoslavia was only responsible for failing to prevent the genocide; Dutch courts found that the Netherlands was only responsible for 10%; and the UN could not be held to account at all.

This PhD project will focus on the issue of accountability for human rights violations in complex situations such as the Srebrenica genocide. When different actors (e.g. states, individuals, international organisations, businesses, armed groups) contribute to human rights violations, it can be difficult to hold them all accountable. This may be due to political or resource constraints, limitations of the law itself (e.g. the immunity of international organisations), and the fact that different legal regimes apply to various actors. As there is no single court before which all these actors can be held to account at the same time, diverse proceedings have to be brought in different jurisdictions - insofar as this is at all possible. In addition, the proliferation of new treaties and mechanisms risks complicating matters further (e.g. multiple UN and regional human rights mechanisms, domestic and international criminal tribunals, future EU accession to the ECHR). The PhD research will examine to what extent and how the interaction between multiple legal systems can fill accountability gaps in situations involving multiple actors.

The research may focus, for example, on the interaction between national, European and international (human rights) law, or between international human rights law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law. The PhD project may focus on one or more case studies. It can - but does not need to - include an empirical component. There is thus sufficient room for you to come up with your own ideas and perspectives.

The position includes a maximum teaching load of 25% (e.g. thesis supervision, lecturing and tutoring).