Globalization of Human Rights and Mutual Influence Between Courts: the Innovative Reverse Path of the Right to the Truth

The article examines the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case law in relation to extraordinary renditions (ERs). In particular, the focus of the current work is on the El-Masri case (application no. 39630/09), which marks a milestone in the case law of the ECtHR. For the first time, the ERs program carried out by the United States and its allies has been explicitly condemned in court. Furthermore, in its reasoning the ECtHR drew on the right to the truth as an autonomous legal concept, albeit cautiously and assessed with reference to other rights set forth in the European Convention of Human Rights. From this perspective, the article compares the ECtHR case law and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights case law in order to highlight the mutual influence between those courts in "competing" with each other to ensure that human rights are afforded the highest (possible) protection standards.