Il "Human Rights Review Panel": un esempio di come ritenere responsabili le organizzazioni internazionali per violazioni dei diritti umani

The role of international organizations within the international community is undeniably of crucial importance in several fields of international interest. For instance, international organizations have contributed greatly to the development and promotion of human rights law worldwide. They also use their authority to ensure that human rights are respected and to maintain international peace and security. International peacekeeping missions and operations constitute one of the means that some international and regional organizations, such as the United Nations and the European Union, have been given in order to reach these scopes. However, in the context of peacekeeping missions international organizations often commit human rights violations on the civilians they were actually supposed to safeguard. The issue then arises on how individuals can hold international organizations accountable for the human rights violations they perpetrated in exercising their function. The object of this thesis will be the Human Rights Review Panel established within the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo. In particular, it will be discussed whether the Panel contributed to the development of monitoring mechanisms of human rights violations and in making individuals more active participants in the protection of their own right, and whether the Panel can be used as an example of an accountability mechanism for international organizations.