EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND STATE IMMUNITY: IMPROVING THE SOCIO-LEGAL BACKGROUND CONCERNING HUMAN RIGHTS RISE AND PROTECTION.

This thesis shall study the relationship between effectiveness of human rights and state immunity from a socio-legal perspective. The first chapter will focus on international law as a legal system, addressing its origins, functions and characteristics. The second chapter will examine the framework of state immunity, analyzing its conceptual configuration, historical development and differentiating it from similar notions. In the third chapter, the construction of human rights will be addressed, starting by their historical affirmation, studying their implementation and examining the right to reparations. The fourth chapter will focus on challenging immunity to make human rights effective, and it will analyze the case law on the matter, as well as the most significant theoretical approaches to the subject. The fifth chapter will present two original contributions to the discussion: one deconstructing the foundations of state immunity and another one focusing on the victim’s perspective, to finally draw some conclusions and try to balance the primacy granted to the protection of Human Rights in the 21st Century with traditional norms and institutes of International Law, such as State Immunity.