The Political and Economic Consequences of the BALDASSI Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 11 June 2020.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Pichet
Author(s):  
Helen Fenwick

This chapter considers proposals for changes that might be made by a British Bill of Rights, as compared with the Human Rights Act, under the Coalition government, or a future Conservative government. It considers views expressed by Conservative spokespersons prior to and after the 2010 general election, and answers given by members of the Bill of Rights Commission to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee in 2011. This chapter also touches on the second aspect of the Commission's remit — its advisory role on reform of the European Court of Human Rights. It questions whether adopting a Bill of Rights on the lines favoured by the Conservative leadership, combined with the Strasbourg reforms recently determined on, would be likely to realise Conservative aims of creating divergence from Strasbourg and enhancing parliamentary autonomy.


Author(s):  
Corina Siman ◽  

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms empowers the decision-making and executive body of the Council of Europe, id est the Committee of Ministers, to supervise the execution of the European Court of Human Rights’ case law. The mechanism thus established possesses a certain specificity, which is inherent to the European system of protection of fundamental rights. Therefore, both the political nature of the Committee of Ministers and the elements that form the process of monitoring the implementation of the content of the Strasbourg Court’s judgments and decisions are of interest.


Author(s):  
Nussberger Angelika

This concluding chapter explores how far the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Commission have influenced politics in the forty-seven Member States, created common standards in Europe, and set a model for other parts of the world. The assessment of political success or failure of the Convention model will depend on the expectancies. Undoubtedly, the Court’s jurisprudence reflects the new political tensions and provides answers. Three factors, however, cannot but reduce the direct impact of the Court’s advocacy for ‘bona fide democracy’. First, the Court can only decide on cases brought before it. Second, the Court can only play a subsidiary role. Third, the whole Convention system is dependent on the good will of the Member States. If they do not execute politically important judgments that do not ‘please’ them, the Court's means in forcing them are rather restricted. Despite all these difficulties, whenever it could and within the framework provided by the Convention, the Court has identified the relevant violations and assessed them within the political context. Ultimately, the Court is a ‘European’ court and can speak only for its European Member States. Nevertheless, its voice is not only heard in Europe, but also beyond its borders. This is especially true when the challenges it has to deal with are universal, such as terrorism, migration, and military conflicts.


2006 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis M. Tull

China's vastly increased involvement in Africa over the past decade is one of the most significant recent developments in the region. It appears to contradict the idea of international marginalisation of Africa and brings significant economic and political consequences. China's Africa interest is part of a recently more active international strategy based on multipolarity and non-intervention. Increased aid, debt cancellation, and a boom in Chinese-African trade, with a strategic Chinese focus on oil, have proven mutually advantageous for China and African state elites. By offering aid without preconditions, China has presented an attractive alternative to conditional Western aid, and gained valuable diplomatic support to defend its international interests. However, a generally asymmetrical relationship differing little from previous African–Western patterns, alongside support of authoritarian governments at the expense of human rights, make the economic consequences of increased Chinese involvement in Africa mixed at best, while the political consequences are bound to prove deleterious.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Gornik

During the process of gaining national independence the Slovenian government unlawfully erased 25,671 individuals, mainly citizens of other republics of the former Yugoslavia from the Slovenian Register of Permanent Residents. In 2012 the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Kurić and others vs. Republic of Slovenia held that there had been a violation of the 8th, 13th and 14th Articles of the European Convention on Human rights. Following this judgement the Slovenian government adopted a compensation scheme for the Erased introducing the criteria determining conditions for their redress. The article reflects on the political and legal construction of victimhood and reveals the notions of political loyalty, legal conformity and territorial attachment as one of the most decisive elements of victimhood. It shows that the subjectivity of victims in the case of the Erased is not defined within the human rights discourse but is grounded in nationalist terms.


2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven C. Roach

International legal scholars and political scientists have devised many alternative proposals to legalize politically legitimized humanitarian interventions. While many of these alternative legal mechanisms have addressed the limits to the UN Charter and the political and economic consequences of intervention, they also have exposed the need for more theoretical analysis of the shift in political responsibilities and decision making from the state to international level. In this article, I draw on Carl Schmitt's theory of decisionism in order to understand the legitimacy and political dynamics of global decisionism. I argue that more theoretical analysis of the political substance of global authority is needed in order to understand the revolutionary content of a human rights enforcement regime.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-304
Author(s):  
Miran Lavrič ◽  
Sergej Flere

AbstractReligious dynamics in Europe, especially regarding religious pluralism, are largely affected by the characteristics of legal recognition of religious entities in individual countries. The implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights clearly points to democratic pluralism as the essential principle in treating religious entities by the state. On the other hand, the situation in European countries is very complex and certain tendencies opposite to the European Convention of Human Rights directions, particularly in terms of privileging of traditional entities, are still deeply entrenched. Recent changes in Slovenia, where two essentially parody religions have been registered, and in Hungary, where registration and recognition of previously registered churches have been annulled, are considered. It is argued that the implementation of the liberal course set by the Council of Europe is (still) largely dependent on the political situation in individual countries.


Author(s):  
Justice Adrian Hardiman

The chapter of Mr. Justice Adrian Hardiman positions the European Convention on Human Rights in the context of the Irish domestic legal system and highlights the political motivations behind the decision to give effect to the Convention in Irish law at a sub-constitutional and interpretive level. The chapter argues that the the principle of subsidiarity is under threat in the decision in O’Keeffe, where, in his view, the Strasbourg Court dramatically expanded its jurisdiction and encroached upon national sovereignty. Mr. Justice Hardiman is particularly concerned that the Strasbourg court entertained a claim that was not presented in the High Court or Supreme Court and that the judgment appeared to merge O’Keeffe’s claims under direct State responsibility and vicarious liability. He argues that this reflects a departure from prior case law for the ECtHR. Mr. Justice Hardiman’s second concern centres on the use by the court of language of ‘objective’, ‘core objective’ and ‘core grievance’, suggesting that use of these terms implies that, at the discretion of the ECtHR, the simple word ‘all’ may mean ‘some’ or even ‘at least one’.


Perichoresis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-87
Author(s):  
Paul Cliteur

Abstract This article is about Islamism (or political Islam) as a challenge for contemporary liberal democracies. Islamism is portrayed as an ideology that favors one specific religion as supreme and that is a threat to freedom of speech. The author makes a plea for distinguishing a. the religion of Islam, b. Muslims as a group, and c. the political ideology of Islamism. Regarding the dangers of Islamism, some sociological research about the convictions of Muslims is discussed (Koopmans, Esposito) and the most recent case from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg—E.S. v. Austria (2018: 38450/12)—is analysed, which renders all criticism of Islam and Islamism difficult, if not impossible.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yussef Al Tamimi

Identity is a central theme in contemporary politics, but legal academia lacks a rigorous analysis of this concept. The aim of this article is twofold: (i) firstly, it aims to reveal presumptions on identity in human rights law by mapping how the European Court of Human Rights approaches identity and (ii) secondly, it seeks to analyse these presumptions using theoretical insights on identity. By merging legal and theoretical analysis, this article contributes a reading of the Court’s case law which suggests that the tension between the political and apolitical is visible as a common thread in the Court’s use of identity. In case law concerning paternity, the Court appears to hold a specific view of what is presented as an unquestionable part of identity. This ostensibly pre-political notion of identity becomes untenable in cases where the nature of an identity feature, such as the headscarf, is contended or a minority has adopted a national identity that conflicts with the majoritarian national identity. The Court’s approach to identity in such cases reflects a paradox that is inherent to identity; identity is personal while simultaneously constituted and shaped by overarching power mechanisms.


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