The European Court of Human Rights has become a victim of ongoing reforms. Continuous efforts to streamline and reinforce the system have proved inadequate in managing the challenge of its ever-increasing caseload. The consensus is that further reforms to the European Convention on Human Rights mechanisms are necessary in order to cope with the serious influx of cases from the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe. This book analyzes the set of five Recommendations referred to in the 2004 Declaration of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to encourage Member States to take effective domestic steps in ensuring appropriate protection of the Convention rights at the domestic level, in full conformity with the principle of subsidiarity. It also traces and evaluates the impact of the Convention in the domestic legal orders of Cyprus and Turkey and comparatively assesses the effective implementation of the May 2004 Recommendations in these two Member States. The book demonstrates how the efforts to secure the survival and effective operation of the Court must succeed at the national level and hence, the heavy burden to comply falls to Member States. The 2004 Recommendations address the source of the problem and are appropriate prescriptions for a healthy future and constitute a technical vehicle for implementing the Convention in the domestic legal orders of Member States. Such guidelines stemming directly from the Convention are invaluable in assisting Member States to improve the protection of human rights at home. This study is a timely and valuable aid for Council of Europe and Court's officials, governments, human rights NGOs, academics, and practitioners.

The European ministerial conference on human rights, meeting in Rome on the 50th anniversary of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, emphasised two crucial elements: - the responsibility of member states, Parties to the Convention, to ensure constantly that their law and practice conform to the Convention and to execute the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights; - that urgent measures be taken to assist the Court in carrying out its functions, given the ever increasing number of applications. An in-depth reflection should be started as soon as possible on the various possibilities and options with a view to ensuring the effectiveness of the Court in the light of this new situation. The Rome conference has sparked intensive work. Ever since January 2001, the intergovernmental co-operation activities of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) of the Council of Europe have concentrated on developing normative instruments, of which the most important has been Protocol No. 14 to the Convention. This work has benefited greatly from high-level debates during a series of round-table discussions, within working groups and at seminars organised mainly by the successive presidencies of the Committee of Ministers. The present volume contains a record of this work.

The European Convention on Human Rights: A Commentary is the first complete article-by-article commentary on the ECHR and its Protocols in English. This book provides an entry point for every part of the Convention: the substance of the rights, the workings of the Court, and the enforcement of its judgments. A separate chapter is devoted to each distinct provision or article of the Convention as well as to Protocols 1, 4, 6, 7, 12, 13, and 16, which have not been incorporated in the Convention itself and remain applicable to present law. Each chapter contains: a short introduction placing the provision within the context of international human rights law more generally; a review of the drafting history or preparatory work of the provision; a discussion of the interpretation of the text and the legal issues, with references to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission on Human Rights; and a selective bibliography on the provision. Through a thorough review of the ECHR this commentary is both exhaustive and concise. It is an accessible resource that is ideal for lawyers, students, journalists, and others with an interest in the world's most successful human rights regime.

This book critically appraises the European Convention on Human Rights as it faces some daunting challenges. It argues that the Convention's core functions have subtly changed, particularly since the ending of the Cold War, and that these are now to articulate an 'abstract constitutional model' for the entire continent, and to promote convergence in the operation of public institutions at every level of governance. The implications - from national compliance, to European international relations, including the adjudication of disputes by the European Court of Human Rights - are fully explored. As the first book-length socio-legal examination of the Convention's principal achievements and failures, this study not only blends legal and social science scholarship around the theme of constitutionalization, but also offers a coherent set of policy proposals which both address the current case-management crisis and suggest ways forward neglected by recent reforms.

The model system created by the European Convention on Human Rights is internationally renowned. The rights it protects are among the most important, covering not only civil and political rights, but also certain social and economic rights, such as the right to respect for personal possessions. The European Court of Human Rights stands at the heart of the protection mechanism guaranteeing these rights. It is now an entirely judicial system since the adoption and entry into force of Protocol No. 11, which reorganised the whole system and extended the Court's jurisdiction. The Court's excessive caseload is a problem, though, and this has led to the further improvements contained in Protocol No. 14, designed to strengthen the operation and effectiveness of the Court.

Women and the LGBT community in Russia and Turkey face pervasive discrimination. Only a small percentage dare to challenge their mistreatment in court. Facing domestic police and judges who often refuse to recognize discrimination, a small minority of activists have exhausted their domestic appeals and then turned to their last hope: the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The ECtHR, located in Strasbourg, France, is widely regarded as the most effective international human rights court in existence. Russian citizens whose rights have been violated at home have brought tens of thousands of cases to the ECtHR over the past two decades. But only one of these cases resulted in a finding of gender discrimination by the ECtHR-and that case was brought by a man. By comparison, the Court has found gender discrimination more frequently in decisions on Turkish cases. Courting Gender Justice explores the obstacles that confront citizens, activists, and lawyers who try to bring gender discrimination cases to court. To shed light on the factors that make rare victories possible in discrimination cases, the book draws comparisons among forms of discrimination faced by women and LGBT people in Russia and Turkey. Based on interviews with human rights and feminist activists and lawyers in Russia and Turkey, this engaging book grounds the law in the personal experiences of individual people fighting to defend their rights.

Nussberger traces the history of the European Court of Human Rights from its political context in the 1940s to the present day, answering pressing questions about its origins and workings. This first book in the Elements of International Law series, provides a fresh, objective, and non-argumentative approach to the European Court of Human Rights.

This insightful book considers how the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is faced with numerous challenges which emanate from authoritarian and populist tendencies arising across its member states. It argues that it is now time to reassess how the ECHR responds to such challenges to the protection of human rights in the light of its historical origins.

The rule of law.