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Journal of Human Rights Practice 2009 1(1):37-50; doi:10.1093/jhuman/hun002
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© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

The Price of Internal Legal Opposition to Human Rights Abuses

Michael Sfard

49 Ehad Ha'am St., Tel-Aviv 65206, Israel
michael{at}jurists.co.il


  Abstract

Many of the legal campaigns against governmental practices and policies in large-scale human-rights abusing regimes are waged ‘internally’, through the regime's own institutions. Such litigations raise serious dilemmas for human rights lawyers and for human rights organizations. This essay is an attempt to dig out the implications of these internal legal struggles, whatever their effectiveness, for the project of bringing an end to the human rights abusing regime. The essay analyzes 35 years of ongoing, occupation-related human rights litigation in the Israeli court as a generic example of a massive ‘internal’ legal opposition. The author of this essay, an Israeli lawyer, involved in such litigations, reaches a painful conclusion: although internal legal action might ease human sufferings in individual cases, it nevertheless potentially empowers the regime and contributes to its sustainability.

Keywords: Humanitarian Law, Israel, legitimization, occupation, sustainability


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