Permanent legal emergencies and the derogation clauses in international human rights treaties: a contradiction?

This chapter examines the derogation clauses in key international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. It provides an overview of the derogation clauses and relevant interpretations and case law which have developed on the issue before 9/11. The analysis then concentrates on the derogation rules in post-9/11 case law focusing, in particular, on the Belmarsh detainees decision of the House of Lords and the subsequent judgment on the same matter of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The central aim of the chapter is to assess whether, and to what extent, the derogation clauses remain adequate in an era of international terrorism and in the context of a state of permanent legal emergency.