I Book Review: Unaccompanied Minors. Rights and Protection
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410802600212 |
| Published date | 01 June 2008 |
| Date | 01 June 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
Documentation
288 Intersentia
expresses his regret that the Court found itself helpless to stop the human tragedy and
loss of life and refrained from indicating any provisiona l measures for lack of prima
facie jurisdict ion (p. 220). Wishes aside, one may ask: is it the function of the Court to
put a stop to armed conicts around the world? And further, can we reasonably expect
from the Court to full this role? A simple look at the ot her case stemming from
the armed conicts relating to t he break-up of Yugoslavia, namely Application of the
Genocide Convention Case (Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Serbia and Montenegro) reveals
that even when indicated by the C ourt, provisional measures did not stop neither the
ghting nor the violations of international human rights and humanitaria n law. Same
goes concerning the events related to the Armed Activities in the Territory of the Congo
Cases (Demo cratic Republic of the Congo vs Uganda) (p. 225). us, expecting f rom
the Court t hat it fulls such a role would be un realistic and would extend far be yond
the judicial mandate a nd nature of this organ.
Further, B edi asks if the substance of human r ights law a mounts to obl igations
erga omnes why should that not be the case with its procedural and jurisd ictional side
(p. 225)? In his v iew, in the Legality of Use of Force Cases the Court m issed a golden
opportunity to e stablish that as far as enforcement and protec tion of human rights is
concerned all States are bound by the instruments governing them even without their
consent. Again, while plausible as a proposition on the basis of the noble aim intended
to achieve, is it wit hin the function of t he Court to change, one-sidedly, the basis
of intern ational law upon which its very jurisdiction is founded, i.e. its consensual
nature? Whet her correct or not, the Court s eems to have answered that proposition
in the negative (p. 227).
Whether one a grees or not with Bedi and the per sonal views he puts forth in his
book, this does not detract f rom the richness in information and moral-legal thought
contained therein. His clear and simple style of writing make his work easy to read for
anyone with a general interest in international law and the jurisprudence of the Court.
As Bedi concludes, ‘[i]n this age of growing terrorism we need to set our priorities and
the Court’s human rights jurisprudence indeed provides a lega l bible for “We, t he
peoples of the United Nations”, including its leaders and governi ng institutions’ (p.
369).
K. Touzenis, Unaccompanied Minors . Rights and Protec tion, XL Edizioni, Rome,
2006, 287 pp., ISBN: 88– 6083–000 –1*
Kristine Touzenis oers the reader an ambitious book about all kinds of protec tion
issues i n all k inds of migr ation situations involvi ng all kinds of sepa rated children.
e critical analysis promised on the back cover is absent i n some parts of t he book,
* Carla va n Os, legal expert on children’s ri ghts in mig ration issues at Defence for Children
Internationa l in the Netherlands .
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