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On 16 December 2005 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the ‘Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law’, also known as the Van Boven/Bassiouni Principles. This article discusses a number of conceptual issues raised by The Principles, including their legal status, the relationship between human rights and international humanitarian law, and the role of non-State actors. It concludes that The Principles are not perfect and in many respects the result of compromise. They should nevertheless be welcomed because they attempt to structure the multiplicity of standards, principles and interpretations that exist regarding the right to a remedy and reparation.

The ECtHR case of Konovov v. Latvia, in which the ECtHR for the first time made express reference to the interpretation and application of international humanitarian law, was first decided by a ECtHR Chamber (App. No. 36376/04 (July 24, 2008)), which held, in a four-three majority, that Kononov's INTERNATIONAL LEGAL MATERIALS [VOL. 49: conviction in Latvia for war crimes committed in 1944 contravened Article 7 (retroactive application of the law) of the Convention. After Latvia had asked for a re-assessment of the case, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR came to the opposite conclusion in its judgment of May 17, 2010, ruling, by fourteen votes to three, that there had been a sufficiently clear legal basis at the time of the events in 1944 for the crimes for which Kononov was convicted; and hence there was no violation of Article 7.