HUMAN RIGHTS NUDGE
For decades, human rights have been treated as the business of international institutions like the European Court of Human Rights. Yet, the respect for human rights on the part of governments has been invariably weak. Our team aims to explore the future of compliance with human rights. The team will analyse why and how states interfere in individuals’ lives and then determine when and how they change their behaviour in relation to human rights. The project builds on insights from social sciences, behavioural economics, and psychology, to come up with new solutions and incentives, which governments, communities and even individuals can employ in the future. Our main purpose is to establish how we can challenge the status quo and help states internalise human rights in the future.
3 cups
Flour
COPENHAGEN
The Human Rights Nudge Project and its team is based at the University of Copenhagen, Centre of Excellence, iCourts
OUR LOCATIONS
HAMBURG
Veronika Fikfak is a Senior Humboldt Fellow at the Institute of Law and Economics at the University of Hamburg in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Katharina Luckner is based at the Institute of Law and Economics in Hamburg.
NEW YORK
Human Rights Nudge team leader Veronika Fikfak was a visiting fellow at New York University from September 2019 to May 2020
LONDON
Veronika Fikfak is based at University College London.
OSLO
The Human Rights Nudge Project is collaborating with Compliance Politics and International Investment Disputes project based at Pluricourts, University of Oslo
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
Veronika Fikfak. 'Against Settlement in the European Court of Human Rights'. (2022) 20.3 International Journal of Constitutional Law.
Ula Aleksandra Kos. 'Controlling the narrative: Hungary’s post-2010 strategies of non-compliance before the European Court of Human Rights.' (2023) European Constitutional Law Review, forthcoming.
Katharina Luckner, Veronika Fikfak. 'Not all nations at all times: How States Imitate Each Other’s Behavior Towards Non-Compliance with International Law Norms: an ABM proposal.' JURIX 2023 Proceedings, forthcoming.
Zuzanna Godzimirska, Aysel Küçüksu, Salome Ravn. 'From the Vantage Point of Vulnerability Theory: Algorithmic Decision-Making and Access to the European Court of Human Rights.' (2022) 20 Nordic Journal of Human Rights 235-249.
Katharina Luckner, Veronika Fikfak. 'Applications of ABM in International Legal Research: The case of Compliance.' CEUR-WS Proceedings 3182.
Veronika Fikfak and Lora Izvorova. 'Language and Persuasion: Human Dignity at the European Court of Human Rights.' (2022) 22.4 Human Rights Law Review, forthcoming.
Niccolò Ridi and Veronika Fikfak. 'Sanctioning to Change State Behaviour.' (2022) 13.2 Journal of International Dispute Settlement.
Veronika Fikfak, Daniel Peat, and Eva van der Zee.
'Bias in International Law.' (2022) 23.3 German Law Journal.
Daniel Peat, Veronika Fikfak, and Eva van der Zee. 'Behavioural Compliance Theory.' (2022) 13.2 Journal of International Dispute Settlement.
Aysel Küçüksu. 'Enforcing Rights Beyond Litigation: Mapping NGO Strategies in Monitoring ECtHR Judgment Implementation.' (2022) 22.3 Human Rights Law Review, forthcoming.
Veronika Fikfak. 'Compliance and Compensation: Money as a currency of human rights.' in Rachel Murray and Debra Long, Handbook on Implementation of Human Rights Law. (Edward Elgar, 2022).
Veronika Fikfak. ‘Changing State Behaviour: Damages before the European Court of Human Rights’. (2018) Vol 29/4. European Journal of International Law, pp 1091-1125.
NEWS
1 March 2023
Veronika Fikfak spoke to Uncovering Politics podcast about her new article 'Against Settlement in the European Court of Human Rights.' Her discoveries uncover an important but hidden practice of the Court, which are increasingly used strategically by autocratic governments to avoid adverse judgments. Veronika discusses her concerns about what impact the settlement process is having on the victims of human rights violations. The podcast can be found here.
17 February 2023
Ula Kos has published a new article on Hungarian (non)compliance with ECtHR judgments. She specifically identifies new strategies that Hungary is using to avoid adverse human rights decisions. Her discoveries fill an important gap in rule of law debates relating to Hungary. Ula's paper can be found here.
16 February 2023
Katharina Luckner and Veronika Fikfak have published a new paper on how states imitate each other towards non-compliance. Using ABM modelling, we show that non-compliance is contagious and that compliance with a judgment is not an isolated event, but a result of dynamics where states look to and learn from each other.
1 January 2023
A new member has joined our team: Dilek Kurban who will conduct research on Turkish compliance with ECtHR judgments as part of the NUDGE project. Check out our 'Team page' for more information about Dilek.
15 November 2022
Aysel Küçüksu gave an interview to Democracy Reporting International providing input for their report about Danish elections and the Rule of Law. Aysel spoke about her research on Denmark's compliance with ECtHR judgments, also addressing specific areas like migration. You can read her thoughts here.
September and October 2022
September and October were busy for all of us on HRNUDGE. We presented our work at the International Empirical Legal Studies Conference in Amsterdam, at the European Social Simulation Association Conference in Milan, at the iCourts 3.0 launch conference, at ECPR Joint Global Politics of Law & Courts Workshop in Berlin, at a workshop on Values of the European Court of Human Rights in Birmingham, and at a workshop to celebrate 20 years of the Human Rights Act in London.
Rewarding in International Law - Interview
