Light in the shadows? : the promise of the ‘right to truth’ for victims of extraordinary renditions in the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

The analysis discusses the case of El-Masri, where the European Court of Human Rights for the first time delivers a judgment concerning a victim of the ‘Global Rendition Programme’. It focus on a particular element of the judgment: the right to truth. It analyses the claims made by a number of international actors towards the recognition of this right, partially supported by a minority opinion in the court. It then assess whether it is feasible to expect such recognition to take place in the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the impact it would have on the concrete case, and other victims of the extraordinary renditions in Europe. It suggests that the right to truth is an especially compelling norm to face the challenge posed by the War on Terrorism, in the way it became recognised by other human rights bodies and it is advocated by these actors. However, it contends that the European system of human rights possesses its own features, which will shape the way, and the extent, in which the right to truth might achieve recognition by the European Court of Human Rights