The first international binding human rights document
On November 4th 1950, the then members of the Council of Europe gathered in Rome to sign the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, better known as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Convention was a way for the signatory states to transpose the rights and freedoms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into the first international binding document guaranteeing protection of human rights.
The ECHR and its Court (European Court of Human Rights or ECtHR) would evolve into the world’s most consequential international human rights regime. Citizens used the right of individual petition provided by the Convention to hold governments to their human rights obligations. In the 1970s, the doctrine of dynamic interpretation helped the ECtHR position as a supranational protector of human rights, interpreting the Convention as a living instrument. Following the fall of dictatorships in southern and eastern Europe, the new democratic regimes joined the ECHR to bind their states to a European rule of law order. As codified in the Maastricht Treaty, the Convention also forms part of the fundamental rights and rule of law principles on which the European Union is founded.
Challenges of a living instrument
To avoid becoming a victim of its own success, the ECHR system has seen many reforms to increase its efficiency, most fundamentally the creation of a single court system in 1998. Yet the ECtHR continues to struggle with case overload, reflecting the fact that states are failing in their duties to implement the Convention. As the articles we have selected for this collection demonstrate, nearly all contemporary political controversies and social issues have an ECHR dimension.
At 75, the ECHR is facing several challenges. Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation ceased to be a member of the ECHR in 2022, which shows the Convention’s limitations when faced with governments contemptuous of its fundamental values. Around Europe, diverse political forces are questioning the authority of the ECtHR, accusing it of overstepping its mandate. Nine governments recently issued a joint letter, calling for an “open-minded conversation” about how the Court interprets the ECHR, to make it easier to expel foreign nationals. Other political challengers are again calling to leave the ECHR because it restricts sovereign discretion on migration.
For 75 years, the ECHR has provided an evolving standard for rule of law and human rights in Europe. Certainly, the ECHR system has faced challenges in the past too, and the system has been resilient and adaptive, as a living instrument should be. Overcoming its present challenges will require political will and action.
The collection
On behalf of the Nordic Journal of Human Rights, we invite you to dive into our latest collection featuring the journal's most recent contributions to research on the European Convention of Human Rights and its application. You can access the collection via this link: The European Convention of Human Rights at 75 (tandofonline.com)