Mc Greal, Daragh --- "Drafter Decision Making in International Human Rights Treaties" [2012] ELECD 797; in Keane, David; McDermott, Yvonne (eds), "The Challenge of Human Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Challenge of Human Rights

Editor(s): Keane, David; McDermott, Yvonne

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857939005

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Drafter Decision Making in International Human Rights Treaties

Author(s): Mc Greal, Daragh

Number of pages: 12

Extract:

13. Drafter decision-making in
international human rights treaties
Daragh McGreal

This chapter looks at the drafting process of international human rights
treaties using the discipline of law and economics, giving particular
emphasis to how drafters might most efficiently structure such treaties.
Combining the disciplines of law and economics and human rights
law might initially seem a peculiar concept. The roots of the former in
promoting efficiency and using economic tools to analyse laws could
appear anathema to the human rights ideal of advancing the security and
liberty of individuals. The two might at first glance seem uncomfortable
bedfellows, arguing endlessly about efficiency, costs, contractual obliga-
tions, or the primacy of law, but this does not preclude the application
of economic tools to the analysis of human rights law or international
treaties. In fact, the absence of any previous work in this area, as evi-
denced by Sykes when he states that `despite its importance within the
legal academy, virtually nothing has been written from a theoretical
perspective by economically oriented scholars on international human
rights law',1 suggests that the aim of the current project is very pertinent.
In following through with this approach, the present chapter intends to
suggest where law and economics can aid the more traditional analysis of
international human rights treaties. It does not purport to answer all the
questions, given the infancy of the concept, but the chapter does express
some novel ideas about how the drafting of treaties can impact upon
ratification. The ...