The legal value of the decisions given by the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies in light of the Judgments of the Spanish Supreme Court of 13 June 2023 (STS 786/2023) and of 29 November 2023 (STS 1597/2023)End of Story?

Resumen

this paper studies the legal value of the decisions given by the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies considering mainly the Judgments 786/2023 and 1597/2023 of the Spanish Supreme Court, recently delivered on 13 June 2023 and 29 November 2023. The first judgment does not recognise a decision of the Committee against Torture as a valid premise to lead to the State liability. Although, the second judgment, on the effects of a decision given by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, confirms the 2018 decision by the same court regarding a ruling by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which was a turning point for the jurisprudence in this field. In this sense, the paper provides an overview of the varying types of decisions issued by different human rights treaty bodies and scrutinizes their legal value from both international law and Spanish domestic law perspectives. In addition, it considers the different approaches of the Spanish legal scholarship to this issue. Notably, the paper conducts a thorough analysis of how the Supreme Court interprets its doctrine in light of the 2023 judgments. In essence, it concludes the establishment of a jurisprudence by the Supreme Court on the legal value of these decisions consisting of its condition of valid premise to seek the State liability, as such having a binding effect, confirming the doctrine started five years ago. Nevertheless, the author criticizes this doctrine as he believes it does not align accurately with both international law and the Spanish domestic legal framework.