Remedying Human Rights Violations: Apology and Acknowledgement of Responsibility in the Inter-American Human Rights System
Apologies and acknowledgments of responsibility (ARA) are remedies of “satisfaction” that international courts and treaty bodies may order in response to violations of international human rights law. ARA awards serve important dignitary interests of victims who often seek official recognition of and contrition for the harms they have experienced. ARA can also advance other remedial goals, including publicizing violations and enhancing guarantees of non-repetition. In addition, ARA may allow States to potentially internalize an understanding of the harms inflicted victims of human rights violations. Yet scholars across disciplines have overlooked issues such as when an apology or acknowledgement of responsibility is appropriate; how such remedies are awarded; as well as why victims demand ARA, why States offer to apologize or acknowledge past legal violations, and why international review mechanisms grant such remedies.
This paper examines ARA awards theoretically and empirically with an in-depth study of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). The IACtHR is the most innovative and expansive international complaints mechanism regarding remedies for human rights violations. It also has the largest number of decisions in which ARA awards are requested by individuals and granted by the Court. Our study is based on detailed coding (in progress) of all judgments of the IACtHR from its inception in the late 1980s through 2025. Our findings contribute to and engage with international law scholarship on remedies for human rights violations, political science studies of state compliance with IACtHR remedies, and sociological literature on apologies as restorative measures in transitional justice mechanisms and in response to mass atrocities.
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