Professor Susana Sanz Caballero, Chair of Public International Law at UCH CEU and Principal Investigator of the research group Crisis of the Rule of Law in the European Union, has recently published an article examining the close relationship between the protection of human rights and respect for the rule of law. The study, published in Cuadernos Europeos de Deusto in the special issue entitled “Human Rights in the Digital Era: The European Challenge”, takes judicial independence as a case study through which to assess the risks posed by the weakening of institutional safeguards in contemporary liberal democracies.
Throughout the article, Professor Sanz argues that human rights and the rule of law are mutually dependent: the erosion of one inevitably undermines the effectiveness of the other. In other words, the relationship between the two is one of genuine interdependence. Adopting a comparative perspective, the article explores the historical evolution of both concepts in the United States and the European Union, while also examining the national and international legal frameworks that underpin them.
The study further analyses the consequences that the erosion of judicial independence may have for the protection of fundamental rights. Particular attention is paid to issues such as controversial pardons and amnesties, harassment of judges and magistrates, and the failure to comply with judicial decisions. According to the author, such practices may jeopardise essential principles including equality before the law, access to justice, and the right to a fair trial.
The article appears in a special issue devoted to the contemporary challenges facing the rule of law, democracy, and human rights in the digital age, edited by Professor Carlos Espaliú.
Article DOI:https://doi.org/10.18543/ced.3482
