Council of Europe Protocol No.2 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, conferring upon the European Court of Human Rights Competence to give Advisory Opinions (1963) 1

Author(s):  
Alan C. Neal
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):  
Artem Ivanov ◽  
◽  
Eliza Shyhapova ◽  

This article is devoted to clarify the significance of the advisory opinions of the European Court of Human Rights as a recently improved institution. Thus, according to Article 1 of Protocol No. 16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the highest judicial institutions of the High Contracting Party, as defined in accordance with Art. 10 may apply to the Court for advisory opinions on matters of principle concerning the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms defined by the Convention or its protocols. Considering the fact that only two advisory opinions on the appeal of the member states of the Council of Europe have been published on the official website of the court, this topic is a new subject for research and requires a systematic study. Allowing states to seek advisory opinions was driven by the need to ease the burden on the European Court of Human Rights. However, given the novelty of the improved institute, this statement is still controversial. The article offers its own conclusions regarding the significance of the advisory opinions in the activities of the European Court, provides a view on the legal nature of this legal institution in the internal legal order of Ukraine. This was achieved by defining the essence of such a mechanism, analyzing primary sources from the official website of the court, statistical data on the functioning of the institution, and generalizing national legislation to determine the legal nature. Thus, although Ukraine has ratified Protocol No. 16, however, the legal status of such advisory opinions has not been determined. In this connection, it is proposed to amend a number of legislative acts, in particular, to article 17 of the Law of Ukraine "On the implementation and application of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights", which should be supplemented with the rule on the legal force of the advisory opinion of the European Court of Human Rights. According to the general importance of such an institution, it seems reasonable to hope for a decrease in the number of decisions that would contradict the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, and, accordingly, a decrease in the grounds for filing applications.


2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 873-933
Author(s):  
Marc-André Eissen

The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms came into force on September 1953. In 1959, the European Court of Human Rights began its work which is to apply the Convention to particular cases. Since then, it has delivered 94 judgments. For Canadian Lawyers, since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has come into force, the European Court and its decisions are of particular signifiance. The following article concerns the Court itself, especially the status of its judges. It also concerns the functions, powers and procedures of the Court and lastly relates the spirit with which the Convention has been applied to the National Laws of the Members of the Council of Europe for the past 25 years.


Author(s):  
Yurii Voloshyn ◽  
Nataliia Mushak

The article analyses the modern court decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the formation and implementation of the principle of gender equality in Ukraine. The research defines that the importance of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men for Ukraine was because Ukraine is a member of all major international and European regional agreements in the field of human rights. The authors state that this is due both to Ukraine's general commitments to promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and their adherence, as well as the fact that its participation in European integration processes is important for Ukraine. The research stipulates that gender equality provides equal rights for women and men, as well as their same significance, opportunities, responsibilities and participation in all spheres of public and private life. The authors prove that the pioneering work of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights and gender equality contributed to the development of a comprehensive legal framework. Gender equality is one of the organization's priority areas of activity, and the Council of Europe continues to actively address current and emerging challenges and address barriers to achieving real and complete gender equality. The research investigates the provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Protocol No12 in terms of prohibition of discrimination and ensuring gender equality. It also determines that the conceptual principles of these documents are the protection of human rights, support for democracy and ensuring the principle of the rule of law. The article states that, in particular, the modern legal instrument in the field of gender equality is the Council of Europe's Gender Equality Strategy 2018–2023. The document provides for the achievement of the main six goals. These include combating gender stereotypes and gender discrimination; preventing and combating violence against women; ensuring equal access of women to justice; ensuring equal participation of women and men in political and public decision-making; implementation of the strategy for achieving gender equality in politics and all activities; protection of the rights of migrants, refugees, women and girls seeking asylum. The authors prove that the establishment of the European value of gender equality should be ensured both in society as a whole and in its various institutions, in particular. This is primarily to prevent gender discrimination, ensure equal participation of women and men in making socially important decisions, ensuring equal opportunities for women and men to combine professional and family responsibilities, prevent gender violence, etc. Keywords: Gender Equality, European Standards, Legal Mechanism, European Court of Human Rights, Discrimination, Equal Rights.


Author(s):  
N. Shcherbyuk ◽  
S. Moroz

After gaining independence, Ukraine has chosen a European democratic model for the formation of public and public life. A large number of appeals of citizens of Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights testify to the effectiveness of this European institution. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to study the significance of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for both the world community and for Ukraine in particular, as well as determining the factors that influence the slow pace of implementation of its provisions. Method. The method includes a detailed comprehensive analysis and synthesis of available scientific and theoretical material on selected topics. Scientific novelty. On the basis of this, grounded generalizations and recommendations for disclosing the essence of the investigated aspects of the protection of human rights and freedoms in Ukraine are made. Results. The article establishes that the adoption of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has an epoch-making significance for the whole world community as well as for Ukraine in particular. Its ratification in our country, in essence, has shifted from the place the process of transition from declarative consolidation of human rights and freedoms in the legislation to the introduction of effective mechanisms that would give a real opportunity to realize and protect them if necessary. The driving force behind this process is the European Court of Human Rights, in which Ukrainian citizens can claim Ukraine. And as practice shows, this process is quite active. In order to improve its image in the field of protection of rights and fundamental freedoms Ukraine needs to eliminate as much as possible the reasons that affect the non-enforcement of ECHR judgments and to take into account the recommendations made by the Council of Europe in this area. Practical significance. The results of the study will contribute to correcting the situation towards the real fulfillment by Ukraine of its primary duty, as provided for in Part 2 of this article. 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-22

This note is devoted to the study and analysis of legal issues of the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Convention) in Ukraine. The research states that the Convention is one of the first human rights documents based on the principles of ensuring objective standards and providing protection to individuals against abuse of state power. The note proves that the Convention, which is inherently a new generation treaty, not only establishes rights and obligations for states that are traditional for sources of classical international law but also enshrines the obligations of Member States to its citizens, individuals, and legal entities – all those under its jurisdiction. The research stipulates that with its accession to the Council of Europe in 1995, Ukraine not only showed its recognition of the rule of law but also undertook the commitments to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms, thereby confirming its European democratic choice. In 1997, with the ratification of the Convention, a new stage began in the development of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Ukraine. The note states that Ukraine takes third place among the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe in terms of the number of appeals to the European Court of Human Rights. A negative tendency to increase the submission of complaints by citizens of Ukraine to the European Court of Human Rights is intensifying every year. This indicates that nowadays, the need to achieve maximum compliance of Ukrainian legislation with European standards in the field of human rights and the prevention of their violations remains urgent. The note concludes that at the present stage, among the most problematic issues of Ukraine’s cooperation with the Council of Europe is the reform of the judiciary – in particular, bringing it in line with European norms in accordance with the recommendations of the Councils of Europe institutions, strengthening the fight against corruption, etc. The authors offer a set of proposals and recommendations on the necessity of achieving maximum compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the European standards of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights and prevention of their violations to reduce the number of appeals of Ukrainian citizens to the European Court of Human Rights. The research emphasises that the construction of a democratic legal state and Ukraine’s accession into the European system of human rights protection should exist in reality, as well as be supported by the relevant internal and external policy of the country in regard to human rights, the harmonised system of legislative acts, and the real mechanisms of guarantees of fundamental freedoms. Keywords: Human Rights, European Values, Fundamental Freedoms, Judicial System, European Vector, Legal Instruments, European Court of Human Rights, Implementation Process.


Author(s):  
Nussberger Angelika

This chapter discusses the organization, personnel, and procedures of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), frequently referred to as the Strasbourg Court. The Member States are the masterminds for setting the framework of the Court’s organization, procedure, and personnel. The rules laid down in the original version of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in 1950 underwent substantial reform when the permanent Court was established in 1998 on the basis of Protocol No 11 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The framework has been further modified by important additional protocols, especially Protocol No 14 allowing ‘single judges’ to adopt binding decisions, and Protocol No 16 introducing advisory opinions in addition to adversary procedures. However, not only the Member States make the rules. The Court itself has an important say in adapting the general set-up to its practical needs and in fine-tuning the regulations.


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