Resumo

BENAVIDES CASALS, María Angélica. EL CONSENSO Y EL MARGEN DE APRECIACIÓN EN LA PROTECCIÓN DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS. Ius et Praxis [online]. 2009, vol.15, n.1, pp. 295-310. ISSN 0718-0012.  doi: 10.4067/S0718-00122009000100009.

Acknowledging the universality of human rights, this article aims to show how the interpretation standards of consensus and margin of appreciation are applied by the European and Inter-American courts of human rights. Its main idea is that when consensus in the understanding of the meaning and scope of rights is lacking, it is reasonable to give the states the possibility of considering the particularities of each society when applying human rights treaties. This would benefit the progressive commitment made by states to recognize and protect human rights. It is also argued that is positive to differentiate between an essential core that makes up every human right and its manifestations The cultural diversity behind the human rights content requires a balanced application of consensus and margin of appreciation. The latter protects the particularities of each State at applying human rights treaties without being an immovable boundary and can change and adapt to the evolution of international consensus either at a global or regional level. If the essential core of the human rights content increase, then the manifestations of such a content at the national level would diminish. In other words the scope of the margin of appreciation and their of the consensus would decrease as interpretation standard increases.

Palavras-chave : Consensus; Margin of appreciation; human rights.