Who can strike down a law?
This is the first question, and the answer divides the world in two. In some countries a constitutional court can invalidate a statute that conflicts with protected rights. In others the court can only declare the incompatibility, leaving the statute in force until the legislature acts. A third pattern exists: domestic legislation is shielded from review, but a ratified international treaty allows its application to be challenged indirectly. Knowing which pattern applies determines the whole strategy.
Who do rights bind?
Fundamental rights are aimed first at the state. Against an employer, a landlord or a trader they often apply only indirectly, through private law or through anti-discrimination legislation. A few systems go further and make their catalogue of rights enforceable between private parties; others have given that job to a specialised commission. In practice, for a dispute with a private actor, it is almost always the discrimination route that works.
Non-judicial remedies, consistently underused
Ombudsmen, national human rights institutions and regulators are free, accessible without a lawyer and often effective. Some have real powers — to investigate, to order, sometimes to award compensation — while others only make recommendations, which nonetheless carry weight with the body concerned. Approaching them generally does not stop court deadlines running, so both routes have to be handled in parallel.
Regional and international remedies
Almost all of them require domestic remedies to be exhausted and impose a short deadline running from the final domestic decision. A few regional mechanisms are the exception and accept direct individual applications without exhaustion, which makes them the most accessible route where they exist. Individual access sometimes depends on an optional declaration that a state can withdraw: check that before doing anything else.
Deadlines are the leading cause of failure
Rights claims are confined within short time limits — often weeks or a few months from notification of a decision — and they are almost never extended. Record the date you received each decision as soon as it arrives and check the applicable deadline immediately, before you even decide whether to act.
The law country by country
The legal framework, the procedure, the time limits and the costs differ from one country to another. Each country below has a detailed page: governing texts, key facts, the actual procedure, costs, where to go and the traps to avoid.
Select a country to open its detailed page.
