The ECHR, the EU and the Weakness of Social Rights Protection at the European Level

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1833-1861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderic O'Gorman

Ever since the conceptual division of rights into three separate categories; civil, political and social, the legal status of social rights has been controversial. This divergence in views is illustrated by the decision of the Council of Europe in 1950 to protect civil and political rights through a judicial format where adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was ensured by the European Court of Human Rights, whereas social rights were addressed separately through the European Social Charter (“Social Charter”), with merely a reporting mechanism to the European Committee of Social Rights.

Author(s):  
Liz Griffith

Chapter 3 provides a critical perspective on the establishment of the Council of Europe and its development of human rights mechanisms amongst Western European powers during the Cold War. It discusses attempts to address the lack of coverage of social and economic rights in the ECHR, with the development of the European Social Charter and the Committee of Social Rights and looks at the Council of Europe’s differing approaches to civil and political rights (and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights) and the social and economic rights contained in the Social Charter (with oversight by the Committee of Social Rights). It outlines some of the strengths and weaknesses relating to enforcement and realisability of these differing sets of rights.


Author(s):  
Oliver Lewis

This chapter presents an overview of the adjudicative bodies of the Council of Europe—namely, the European Court of Human Rights (established by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR)) and the European Committee of Social Rights—and outlines their mandates with regard to integrating UN human rights treaties. It analyses how these two bodies have cited the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The dataset was forty-five cases dealt with by the Court and two collective complaints decided by the Committee that cite the CRPD up to 2016. Notwithstanding the relatively small size of the dataset, the conclusions are that the Council of Europe system has yet to engage seriously in the CRPD’s jurisprudential opportunities. The reasons for this cannot be ascertained from a desk-based methodology, and further research is required.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-69
Author(s):  
Serhiy MELENKO ◽  
◽  
Dan PARANYUK ◽  

Based on the methodology of performing axiological and logical-gnoseological analysis of juridically significant factors, the article under discussion presents a partial investigation of the practical application of one of the most fundamental principles of state functioning in the field of human rights protection. The object of investigation in the paper is the way the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) perceives, understands and interprets the principle of Good Governance in the course of implementing it in Court’s activities. The precedents, formulated and adopted by the ECHR frequently acquire the status of legal sources for the member states of the Council of Europe. Therefore, the judiciary bodies of these countries have to rely in their practice on the conclusions, the ECHR came to in the course of considering certain cases. Qualitively equal understanding and application of the above decisions is a cornerstone in forming a common European legal space, as well as plays a leading role in the field of human rights protection, guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 1950 (hereinafter - the Convention) (Council of Europe, 1950). The principle of Good Governance is a complex notion. It directly or indirectly regards the rights and interests of both individuals (ensuring them certain rights and freedoms in a vast number of articles of the Convention) and social groups. This requires a complex analysis of the principle in both theoretical and practical aspects of its definition and application. Relying on the methodology of profound analysis of the axiological component of a certain legal phenomenon, like the content of some decisions of the Strasbourg Court, the authors of the article attempt to practically trace the implementation of the principle of Good Governance in the course of administering justice in Ukraine, as a member state of the Council of Europe. Therefore, the article under studies deals with the specifics of practical application of the principle of Good Governance in the ECHR activities, as well as with using precedent experience in the system of administrative judiciary of Ukraine.


2020 ◽  
pp. 243-282
Author(s):  
Eleanor Spaventa

This chapter examines fundamental rights in the EU. It begins by analysing the historical background and the development of the case law on fundamental rights. It then examines the main Treaty provisions relating to fundamental rights protection, before turning to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Finally, it looks at the relationship between the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), including the extent to which the European Court of Human Rights agrees to scrutinize EU acts. It also considers the plan for the EU to accede to the ECHR.


Law and World ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-116

The present article is dedicated to one of the most debatable aspects of human rights protection in the European Union (EU), specifically the question of whether the EU should accede to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This article analyzes the maintained deficit in the functioning of the European Union in terms of the important parameters of democracy as a result of the failed EU accession to the ECHR as well as the new reality created in the relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) after the negative Opinion no. 2/13 of the CJEU and the changes in the nature of the interaction between the two European courts in this changed situation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Kużelewska

Abstract The Baltic States – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – are democratic states of law that respect human rights. As members of the Council of Europe, they implemented into domestic law the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (known as the European Convention on Human Rights) – an international document for the universal protection of human rights adopted by the Council of Europe. The aim of the paper is to analyze whether and to what extent did Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian citizens file individual complaints to the European Court of Human Rights over the past thirteen years (2006–2018). The paper is to answer the question if the Baltic Sates’ systems of human rights protection are effective. One of the indicators of effectiveness is the number of complaints brought from the Baltic States to the ECtHR in relation to the number of inhabitants and also in comparison with the total number of complaints from the 47 member states of the Council of Europe as whole. The analysis will cover statistics on the number of judgments in Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian cases before the Court in Strasbourg issued between 2006 and 2018. This will be helpful in determining the degree and the type of violations by the Baltic States of the human rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights.


2020 ◽  
pp. 240-268
Author(s):  
Sylvia de Mars

This chapter traces the development of EU law-based fundamental rights, from early Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case law up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It considers the EU's relationship with the Council of Europe, focusing on how the CJEU and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) attempt to avoid conflicting interpretations of overlapping rights, and whether the EU can in fact sign up to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It is important to remember that the ECtHR and the ECHR are not part of EU law. The ECHR is an international human rights treaty administered by the Council of Europe. It is applied and interpreted by the ECtHR, and is transcribed into UK law in the form of the Human Rights Act 1998. The EU, meanwhile, has the Charter of Fundamental Rights as its human rights ‘treaty’. The chapter then looks at the relationship between the CJEU and the ECtHR, and examines post-Brexit fundamental rights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
Anne-Katrin Speck

Abstract The European Convention system has a unique structure among regional human rights regimes. Not only does it have a full-time Court and a Parliamentary Assembly, it is also the only system to have a political body, the Committee of Ministers, tasked with monitoring the implementation of judgments issued by the Court. While the day-to-day work is carried out by the Department for the Execution of Judgments (‘Execution Department’), the ministers’ deputies meet quarterly to examine the implementation (or ‘execution’) of (selected) judgments. How effective has this distinctive institutional arrangement been, and what challenges does it face in an era of increasing hostility to supranational human rights bodies? Anne-Katrin Speck, Research Associate with the Human Rights Law Implementation Project, discussed these questions with Andrew Drzemczewski, former Head of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Department of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe; and Michael O’Boyle, former Deputy Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-52
Author(s):  
Tudor Tanasescu

The Council of Europe represents the main regional/European international intergovernmental organization in which the most efficient mechanisms for guaranteeing and protecting human rights have been initiated and developed.The mechanisms implemented by this organization, aiming to protect and guarantee human rights, established through the conventional judicial tools adopted by the Council of Europe are: The European Court for Human Rights (jurisdictional mechanism), established by the European Convention on Human Rights, the conventional non-jurisdictional mechanisms for monitoring, as well as the system of regularly reporting and that of the collective complaints, employed by the European Committee for social rights, created based on the European Social Charter and its two protocols of 1991 and 1995, and the preventive control based on inquiries carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, based on the European Convention of the Prevention of Torture.Added to these some extra-conventional mechanisms are considered, such as The European Commission against racism and intolerance and The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe.


Author(s):  
Eleanor Spaventa

This chapter examines fundamental rights in the EU. It begins by analysing the historical background and the development of the case law on fundamental rights. It then examines the main Treaty provisions relating to fundamental rights protection, before turning to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Finally, it looks at the relationship between the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), including the extent to which the European Court of Human Rights agrees to scrutinize EU acts. It also considers the draft agreement on the EU’s accession to the ECHR.


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