Why should we obey you? Enhancing implementation of rulings by regional courts Katrin Nyman-Metcalf* and Ioannis Papageorgiou** ABSTRACT: ‘Regionalization’ of human rights protection means an increase in regional instruments: continent-wide and sub-regional courts develop in Africa and the Americas in an interesting and dynamic interplay. However, the courts do not possess enforcement mechanisms but rely on the member state for enforcement. Studies on regional human rights protection often focus on substantive rights rather than institutional issues. The aim of this article is to discuss the role regional courts can play in the protection of human rights, given the challenges to enforcement of their rulings. By using a comparative method, the article analyses what the impact can be for regional rights protection. Based on the study of various courts, the study concludes that although regional courts cannot replace national ones in protecting citizens, regional judicial oversight of rule of law in regions with fragile democracies constitutes a useful addition to national protection by setting limits on states and making citizens aware of their rights. The article thus demonstrates how regional courts can have a significant impact on the protection of human rights, while highlighting the risk of courts losing respect if their rulings are not implemented, thus setting in process a vicious circle: rulings not being implemented lead to courts being underused, further reducing respect, and so on. The article finally advocates for strong commitment by member states and increased legitimacy of the regional systems, specifically focussing on the role of courts, and thus contributes to the debate on how to enhance the impact of regional human rights protection systems. TITRE ET RÉSUMÉ EN FRANÇAIS: Pourquoi devrions-nous vous obéir? Améliorer l’exécution des décisions des juridictions régionales RÉSUMÉ: La ‘régionalisation’ de la protection des droits de l’homme signifie une augmentation des instruments régionaux: les juridictions continentales et sousrégionales se développent en Afrique et dans les Amériques dans une intéraction intéressante et dynamique. Cependant, les juridictions ne disposent pas de mécanisme d’exécution mais dépendent des Etats pour l’exécution. Les études sur la protection régionale des droits de l’homme mettent souvent l’accent sur les droits fondamentaux plutôt que sur les questions institutionnelles. Le but de cet article est de discuter du rôle que les tribunaux régionaux peuvent jouer dans la protection des droits de l’homme, étant donné les défis que connaît l’application de leurs décisions. En utilisant une méthode comparative, l’article analyse l’impact potential de cette situation sur la protection régionale des droits. Basée sur une étude de différentes * Visiting Professor of Law, Institute of Law, School of Business and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology; LLM (Uppsala), PhD (Uppsala); katrin.nymanmetcalf@ttu.ee ** Assistant Professor of Politics, University of Thessaloniki; DEA (Paris), PhD (Brussels); ipapageo@polsci.auth.gr 167 K Nyman-Metcalf & I Papageorgiou ‘Why should we obey you? enhancing implementation of rulings by regional courts’ (2017) 1 African Human Rights Yearbook 167-190 http://doi.org/10.29053/2523-1367/2017/v1n1a9