Public Interest Litigation

This chapter gives an overview of the obstacles for public interest litigation to be a fully integrated practice in international law. It argues that they are surmountable and welcome public interest litigation as an increasing practice to respond to a multitude of global concerns in the international legal order. The chapter also presents the cross-cutting commonalities, while public interest litigation can take a variety of forms depending on the judicial forum and substantive matter. Human rights law has been a field of international law actively and effectively developing public interest litigation, partly because potential victims can invoke human rights directly before domestic and regional courts and partly because public interest litigation forms a legal basis for a claim before a court. The strategic objective of public interest litigation is inevitable if enforcing the human rights or rights-related rules described earlier.