European Convention on Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe,[1] the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953.
All Council of Europe member states are party to the Convention and new members are expected to ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.[2] The Convention established the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Any person who feels his or her rights have been violated under the Convention by a state party can take a case to the Court. History[edit] Romanian stamp, commemorating 50 years of European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights has played an important role in the development and awareness about Human Rights in Europe. Drafting[edit] Convention articles[edit] Article 1 - respecting rights[edit] Relevant cases are: Legislation.gov.uk - Human Rights Act 1998. Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to life The article contains a limited exception for the cases of lawful executions and sets out strictly controlled circumstances in which the deprivation of life may be justified.
The exemption for the case of lawful executions has been subsequently further restricted by Protocols 6 (restriction of the death penalty to war time) and 13 (abolition of the death penalty), for those parties who are also parties to those protocols. The European Court of Human Rights has commented that "Article 2 ranks as one of the most fundamental provisions in the Convention"[1] The obligations on a State under Article 2 consist of three principal aspects: the duty to refrain from unlawful deprivation of life, the duty to investigate suspicious deaths; and in certain circumstances, a positive obligation to take steps to prevent avoidable losses of life.
Deprivation of life[edit] This case imposes two obligations to the State: 1. 2. Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits torture, and "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". There are no exceptions or limitations on this right. This provision usually applies, apart from torture, to cases of severe police violence and poor conditions in detention. The European Court of Human Rights has further held that this provision prohibits the extradition of a person to a foreign state if they are likely to be subjected there to torture. This article has been interpreted as prohibiting a state from extraditing an individual to another state if they are likely to suffer the death penalty. Bamber Case[edit] On 9 July 2013, UK prisoner Jeremy Bamber won an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights that whole life imprisonment (with no chance of parole) was in contravention of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
History[edit] See also[edit] External links[edit] Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Art.5 ECHR for short) provides that everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. Liberty and security of the person are taken as a "compound" concept - security of the person has not been subject to separate interpretation by the Court. History[edit] Article 5 provides the right to liberty and security, subject only to lawful arrest or detention under certain other circumstances, such as arrest on suspicion of a crime or imprisonment in fulfilment of a sentence.
The article also provides the right to be informed in a language one understands of the reasons for the arrest and any charge against them, the right of prompt access to judicial proceedings to determine the legality of one's arrest or detention and to trial within a reasonable time or release pending trial, and the right to compensation in the case of arrest or detention in violation of this article. Case law[edit] Steel v. See also[edit] External links[edit] Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights is a provision of the European Convention which protects the right to a fair trial. In criminal law cases and cases to determine civil rights it protects the right to a public hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal within reasonable time, the presumption of innocence, and other minimum rights for those charged in a criminal case (adequate time and facilities to prepare their defence, access to legal representation, right to examine witnesses against them or have them examined, right to the free assistance of an interpreter).
Text[edit] Article 6 reads as follows. Nature[edit] The majority of Convention violations that the Court finds today are excessive delays, in violation of the "reasonable time" requirement, in civil and criminal proceedings before national courts, mostly in Italy and France. Cases[edit] 1. See also[edit] Notes[edit] References[edit] Literature[edit] N. Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Text[edit] 1. No one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence under national or international law at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the criminal offence was committed.2. This Article shall not prejudice the trial and punishment of any person for any act or omission which, at the time when it was committed, was criminal according to the general principles of law recognised by civilised nations.[1] Case law[edit] Kokkinakis v. Greece (no violation found, 8:1)Vassili Kononov (no violation found, 14:3)Nikola Jorgic (no violation found, unanimously)Nikolay Tess (2008 - decision on admissibility postponed)Mykolas Burokevičius (no violation found, unanimously)Maktouf and Damjanović v.
Literature[edit] Harris, David; O'Boyle, Michael; Warbrick, Colin (2009). References[edit] Article 8. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society".
Case law[edit] This article clearly provides a right to be free of unlawful searches, but the Court has given the protection for "private and family life" that this article provides a broad interpretation, taking for instance that prohibition of private consensual homosexual acts violates this article. This may be compared to the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court, which has also adopted a somewhat broad interpretation of the right to privacy.
Golder v. United Kingdom (1975) 1 EHRR 524, prisoner requested a lawyer because he said he wanted to sue a guard for defamation. The notion of private life in the Article 8 is also interpreted as including some duty of environmental protection.[4] See also[edit] Notes[edit] Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This includes the freedom to change a religion or belief, and to manifest a religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society" Article text[edit] History[edit] Case law[edit] See also[edit] European Convention on Human Rights Literature[edit] Murdoch J. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides the right to freedom of expression and information, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society".
This right includes the freedom to hold opinions, and to receive and impart information and ideas. The licensing exception[edit] The provision about "licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises", i.e. the state’s right to license the media companies, was included because of the limited number of available frequencies and the fact that, at that time, most European states had a monopoly of broadcasting and television. Later Court decision held that due to "the technical progress in the last decades, the justification of these restrictions cannot be made by reference to the number of available frequencies and channels.
" Case law[edit] See also[edit] First Amendment to the United States Constitution References[edit] ^ a b Monica Macovei. External links[edit] Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form trade unions, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society".
Case law[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit] External links[edit] ECtHR case-law factsheet on trade unions rights. Article 14 No discrimination. All of the rights and freedoms contained in the Human Rights Act must be protected and applied without discrimination. Article 14 requires there be no discrimination in the application of human rights on any ground, and this includes (but is not exhaustive of) grounds such as: sex;race;colour;language;religion;political or other opinion;national or social origin;association with a national minority;property;birth;or any other status (including, for example, sexual orientation or marital status).
Article 14 does not provide for a free-standing right to non-discrimination but requires that all other HRA rights be secured without discrimination. For Article 14 to apply it does not require that a breach of another right has to be made out, but the facts of the case must at least fall within the ambit of another HRA right. For example, this means that discrimination in the privacy sphere can only be found where the issue in question is held to engage the right to private life. Right to property. Human right to own property A right to property is specified in Article 17 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,[2] but it is not recognised in the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.[3] The 1950 European Convention on Human Rights acknowledges a right for a natural or legal person to "peaceful enjoyment of his possessions", subject to the "general interest or to secure the payment of taxes.
"[4] Definition[edit] The right to property is one of the most controversial human rights, both in terms of its existence and interpretation. . (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her property.[5] The object of the right to property as it is usually understood nowadays consists of property already owned or possessed, or of property acquired or to be acquired by a person through lawful means. Blackstone’s Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998.