The Mothers of Srebrenica Case before the European Court of Human Rights. United Nations Immunity versus Right of Access to a Court

In its 11 June 2013 decision in Stichting Mothers of Srebrenica and Others v. the Netherlands, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) unanimously declared the application inadmissible, ruling that the Dutch court’s grant of immunity to the United Nations (UN) did not constitute a violation by The Netherlands of the applicants’ right of access to a court. The author provides a critical overview of the case, situating it within the jurisprudence of the ECtHR and the International Court of Justice concerning immunities. The author concludes that the ECtHR should have applied the presumption of consistency with human rights obligations to the interpretation of the immunity rules of the UN. This could have led the Court to require the availability of alternative dispute-settlement mechanisms as a prerequisite for immunity.