An Analysis of the Attribution of Acts of Private Persons to the State in the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

This study examines approach of the European Court of Human Rights’ approach to the issue of attribution, one of the main conditions for establishing state responsibility under international law. The study focuses on the relationship between the law of international responsibility and the law of human rights within the context of attribution. Therefore, the paper explains the pri-mary meaning of attribution under international law and, following a detailed analysis of the Court’s case law, provides a comparative analysis with international law. The Court’s jurisprudence on attribution is divided into two parts: the doctrine of positive obligations and the inter-pretation of the concept of governmental organization, especially in terms of the conduct of state companies. The results indicate that the Court has not adopted lex specialis on attribution, and its judgments largely conform to general international law. The paper outlines in detail the rea-sons for this conclusion and the Court’s application corresponding to certain rules under inter-national law. On the other hand, the Court has refrained from using the term “attribution.” In-stead, the Court has been determining which entities would be regarded as state organs in light of the term “non-governmental organization,” as defined in Article 34 of the Convention. There-fore, the Court’s discomfort with the meaning of “non-governmental organization,” which per-tains to the Convention, has caused the Court to adopt its own interpretation of the term and, in some judgments, to focus on the private entity itself rather than the act claimed to be unlawful.

Keywords

• The European Court of Human Rights
• Attribution
• State responsibility
• Positive obligation
• Horizontal effect
• State corporations
• State-owned entities

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi İçtihadında Özel Kişilerin Eyleminin Devlete Atfedilmesi Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Abstract

Bu çalışmada uluslararası hukukta devletin sorumluluğunun temel koşullarından biri olan atfedilmeye Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi’nin yaklaşımı incelenmiştir. Çalışma bu bakımdan atfedilme konusu özelinde uluslararası sorumluluk hukuku ile insan hakları hukuku arasındaki ilişkiye odaklanmıştır. Bu nedenle öncelikle uluslararası hukukta atfedilmenin ne anlama geldiği açıklanmış, daha sonra AİHM içtihadı incelenerek uluslararası hukuk ile karşılaştırmalı bir analiz yapılmıştır. AİHM’nin atfedilme konusundaki içtihadı pozitif yükümlülük doktrini ve özellikle devlet şirketlerinin eylemleri bakımından hükümet kuruluşu kavramının yorumlanması şeklinde ikiye ayrılmaktadır. Vardığımız sonuca göre, AİHM atfedilme konusunda lex specialis benimsemiş değildir ve kararları büyük ölçüde genel uluslararası hukuk ile uyumludur. Çalışmada bunun gerekçelerine ve AİHM uygulamasının genel uluslararası hukukta hangi kurallara karşılık geldiğine ayrıntılı biçimde yer verilmiştir. Bununla birlikte AİHM atfedilme ifadesini genellikle kullanmamakta ve Avrupa İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi’nin 34. maddesi bağlamında hükümetdışı kuruluş kavramından hareketle, hangi birimlerin devlet organı sayılacağını belirlemektedir. Bu nedenle AİHS’ye özgü bir kavram olan hükümetdışı kuruluş kavramı, AİHM’nin kendi özel yorumunu yapmasına imkân tanımakta ve bazı kararlarda hukuka aykırı olduğu öne sürülen eylem yerine genel bir biçimde özel kişinin kendisine odaklanılmasına yol açmaktadır.

Keywords

• Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi
• Atfedilme
• Devletin sorumluluğu
• Pozitif yükümlülük
• Yatay etki
• Devlet şirketleri
• Kamu iktisadi teşebbüsleri

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