Chapter 12 Outline answers to essay questions
The fundamental rule in such circumstances is that a person must first exhaust national remedies before applying to international human rights entities. Hence, you must discuss the meaning of exhaustion of national remedies. Then, you are asked to determine the conditions whereby a person may nonetheless avoid exhausting national remedies. The principal justification for this exception is the cumbersome nature of the particular remedies. Hence, if the legal system itself or the executive authorities require a significant amount of time to come to a final judgment (i.e. from lower to Supreme Court) this is deemed an abuse of the exhaustion rule. Another justification is the intentional frustration of the process by the local government. Equally, the futility of the process is a persuasive reason for rendering the exhaustion of domestic remedies redundant, especially where it is universally known that the judicial system, for example, is controlled by the government in question. As a final section of the essay you may want to enter into a short discussion on the right to a fair trial and particularly of access to justice and judicial remedies on which the exceptional rule against the exhaustion of domestic remedies rests.