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22 Duke J. Comp. & Int'l L. 153 (2011-2012)
Don't Mind the Gap: The Rise of Individual Complaint Mechanisms within International Human Rights Treaties

handle is hein.journals/djcil22 and id is 157 raw text is: DON'T MIND THE GAP: THE RISE OF INDIVIDUAL COMPLAINT MECHANISMS WITHIN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES ALEXANDRA R. HARRINGTON* INTRODUCTION An iconic message of the London subway system is its warning to passengers to mind the gap, or, in other words, to be careful of the space between the platform and the subway train.' This simple warning is applicable in many contexts. It has been particularly applicable to individuals in the international human rights law context. Traditionally, there has been a large gap between the human rights afforded to individuals as a matter of international law and the state-based ability to enforce these rights. However, the rise in the creation and use of individual complaint mechanisms as a part of international human rights treaties has created a significant challenge to the maintenance of this gap. As this article will explain, the increase in the creation of these procedures for specific groups through specific conventions indicates an attempt to close the gap into which individuals with a human rights-based grievance usually have fallen, despite the essential nature of the rights guaranteed in such foundational documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This rise also indicates that individuals per se are being provided with a greater ability to close the gap by accessing the international human rights law system that has for so long regarded them as only peripheral actors to be given rights rather than as actors having the agency to claim these rights at the international level. In sum, the result is a steady penetration of the international system by individuals. Still, this access is designed by traditional international actors and therefore has * Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Albany Law School of Union University; Doctor of Civil Law Candidate, McGill University Faculty of Law. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 2009 McGill Law Faculty Graduate Students' Association Conference in Montreal, Canada. The author wishes to thank her family for their comments on this article. She also wishes to thank Kate Hunter, Jenna Fcistritzer, and the staff of the Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law for their assistance with this article. 1. Signs informing passengers to Mind the Gap can be seen throughout the London subway system and have spawned an artistic movement centered on their content. 153