Towards the Explication and Calibration of the Concept of “Obligation to Take All Appropriate Measures"

Abstract: 'The compound concept of the “obligation to take all appropriate measures” is frequently (156 times) used across all the nine core human rights treaties, albeit in a very vague and flexible way. This level of ambiguity allows much leeway for states not to comply with the obligation and has diminished predictability in favour of flexibility. Surprisingly, it still remains largely unclear that when and to what extent a state is in compliance with the obligation? What do “measure” and “appropriateness”, as the two elements of this compound concept mean? How to determine the degree of appropriateness of each measure taken by a state in practice? By adopting a mixed methods approach, including a qualitative textual analysis, a quantitative content analysis and a fuzzy-set method, this study as the first systematic attempt, will unpack and explicate the concept of the obligation to take all appropriate measures in order to address the questions and put forward a mehod for calibration of this concept'