The European Court of Human Rights is separate from the EU. The Council of Europe (which has 46 members) set it up as an international court in 1959. It rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ECHR’s judgments are binding on the countries concerned and have led governments to alter their legislation and administrative practice in a wide range of areas. The Court’s case-law makes the Convention a modern and powerful living instrument for meeting new challenges and consolidating the rule of law and democracy in Europe.
The Court, based in Strasbourg, monitors respect for the human rights of 700 million Europeans in the 46 Council of Europe member states that have ratified the Convention.
Since 1998 the Court has sat as a full-time court and individuals can apply to it directly. Since the Court was established in 1959, the Court, by 2021, had delivered 24,511 judgments. More than a third of them have concerned three member States: Turkey (3,820), the Russian Federation (3,116) and Italy (2,466).
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe’s 46 member states comprise all the countries with territory in Europe except Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Vatican City. The Russian Federation was expelled from the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022.
The Council of Europe and the EU share the same fundamental values – human rights, democracy, and the rule of law – but are separate entities which perform different, yet complementary, roles. Focusing on those core values, the Council of Europe brings together governments from across Europe – and beyond – to agree minimum legal standards in a wide range of areas. It then monitors how well countries apply the standards that they have chosen to sign up to. It also provides technical assistance, often working together with the European Union, to help them do so.
European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty under which the member states of the Council of Europe promise to secure fundamental civil and political rights, not only to their own citizens but also to everyone within their jurisdiction. The Convention, which was signed on 4 November 1950 in Rome, entered into force in 1953.
The Convention’s guarantees include:
- the right to life
- the right to a fair hearing
- the right to respect for private and family life
- freedom of expression
- freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
- the protection of property.
The Convention’s prohibitions include:
- torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- slavery and forced labour
- death penalty
- arbitrary and unlawful detention
- discrimination in the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set out in the Convention.
Other bodies not to confuse:
- International Court of Justice – judicial organ of the United Nations, based in The Hague.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights – text adopted by the United Nations in 1948 to strengthen human rights protection at international level.
- Charter of Fundamental Rights – EU text on human rights and fundamental freedoms, adopted in 2000.
Sources: From the links in the text.