LIBRARY

The European Convention on Human Rights came into force in 1953. It was the first instrument to give effect to certain of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and make them binding. 

The First Optional Protocol established an individual complaint mechanism, allowing individuals claiming to be victims of violations of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant, to submit complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee.

The ICCPR is a key international human rights treaty. It obligates the States Parties to respect core civil and political rights of individuals and to take administrative, judicial, and legislative measures to protect the rights set forth in the Covenant. 

Being an official legal text this document incorporates the procedural rules of the Court. It focuses on the composition and working of the Court, as well as stipulates the general and specific rules regarding the procedure before it.

This document describes the "substantive" issues dealing with police custody, imprisonment, psychiatric establishments, immigration detention, juveniles and women deprived of their liberty, as well as combating impunity. 

Adopted in 2011 in Izmir, the Declaration is the second in a series of High-level Conferences addressing the challenges regarding the reform of the European Court’s system.  

The present document sets out detailed proposals for the practical implementation of a twin-track supervision system for the execution of Court judgments and decisions. It also makes a number of practical proposals to make execution supervision more effective and transparent.

The Second Optional Protocol abolished the death penalty. However, countries could make a reservation allowing for use of death penalty for the most serious crimes of a military nature, committed during wartime.

This 3rd document on the Future of the European Court renewed the commitment of Member States to the Convention system and reaffirmed the States recognition of their responsibility, shared with the Court, for the effective implementation of the European Court judgments.

Adopted at Interlaken in February 2010 it is the first document in a series of high-level conferences on the Future of the European Court of Human Rights. It reaffirmed the States’ commitment to the Convention system and gave fresh impetus to the reform process.  

This is the 4^th document in the reform of the European Court's system adopted in March 2015. By reaffirming the Interlaken, Izmir and Brighton principles, the Brussels Declaration focused on the measures to quickly and effectively put into practice the ECtHR judgments.

The brochure is intended to provide basic general information about the way the Court works. For more detailed information, reference is made to documents issued by the Registry (available on the Court’s website: www.echr.coe.int) and in particular to the Rules of Court.

This simplified version of selected Articles from the Convention and its Protocols is included for educational purposes and takes its inspiration from the simplified version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights produced by Amnesty International. 

The Court in brief is an introduction to the Court and the key dates in its history. It gives a short suary of the Convention and its guarantees and prohibitions.

This pamphlet, describing the various stages of the procedure by which the Court examines an application, is intended to answer the main questions that applicants might ask, especially once their application has been sent to the Court.

This document provides general information about the way the Court works. It refers to a number of questions, such as: which rights are protected by the Convention, are domestic courts obliged to apply the Convention, etc.

This Handbook was drawn up bearing in mind the Convention, the Court's relevant case-law regardin Article 3 and the standards of Anti-Torture Committee and other relevant standards. 

This report establishes the scope of the right to freedom of religion, as well as refers to the scope of protection of freedom of religion. The importance of this document depends on the fact that over the past ten years the number of cases examined by the Court under Article 9 has been constantly growing.

The purpose of the current overview is to set out the case-law principles for the new admissibility criterion under Article 35 § 3 (b), as developed by the Court during the first two years of its operation.

This Guide sets out the concept of general issues and protection of the rights set under the Convention, as well as positive obligations arising from the procedural safeguards, etc.

The Guide analyses general characteristics of an effective remedy, specific characteristics of remedies in response to particular situations, as well as general domestic remedies. It refers also to the consideration of the application of Convention by national courts and tribunals.

This Handbook is designed to provide readers with an understanding of how legal proceedings at national level must be conducted to conform with the obligations under Article 6 of the Convention.

This Handbook includes a summary of principles derived from the Court’s case-law under Article 6. It examines the right to a court, the concept of independent and impartial tribunal, the notion of “fair” trial, principles of public and adversarial trial, as well as defense rights.

This Guide is intended to provide information on the right to the property, persmissible restrictions to it and on the relationship to other articles of the Convention. It also sets out the scope of the right. 

This Guide provides information on the most important judgments on the protection of property of the European Court. It sets out the scope of the right to property and the three rules, namely the principle of peaceful enjoyment of possessions, deprivation of possessions, and control of use.

This Handbook offers an overview regarding the scope of application of Article 10. It examines matters concerning the protection of freedom of expression, the Court’s jurisprudence on specific issues and the system of restrictions with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.

The Practical Guide on Admissibility Criteria describes the conditions of admissibility which an application to the Court must meet. Practitioners and prospective applicants should study this Practical Guide carefully before deciding to bring a case.

This Handbook examines the scope and content of freedom of thought, conscience and religion as guaranteed by Article 9 of the Convention. It namely, explores the concepts of “thought, conscience and religion” and provides information on the scope of Article 9 and the limitations. 

This Handbook was developed with the aim of offering an overview of the scope of application of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, providing legal practitioners with a workable tool facilitating the understanding of both the Convention and the Court’s case-law.

This Guide provides information on the scope and the concept of “civil rights and obligations”. The Guide explores “civil” nature of the right to a fair trial. One may find information on the right to a court, institutional and procedural requirements under Article 6, etc.

This Guide provides information on the scope of the “criminal charge”, as well as the possibilities of its application to customs, tax, administrative and financial proceedings. The Guide examines the right of access to a court, the concept of presumption of innocence, right of the defense.

This Guide provides information on the scope of application of the Right to Liberty and Security, the lawfulness of detention, authorized deprivations of liberty and guarantees for persons deprived of liberty. It examines specific requirements  of detention on remand, detention of minors and foreigners. 

This Guide provides information on the structure of Article 4, general principles of prohibition of slavery and forced labor, as well as on specific context of human trafficking. It examines the notions of slavery and forced or compulsory labor and its delimitations. 

This Handbook relates to the fundamental principles of Article 3 on the basis of their interpretation and application to specific situations by the European Court. It explores concepts of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, as well as positive and negative obligations of states.

This Handbook deals with the right to life, as guaranteed under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. There are also specific links between specific articles – e.g., in respect of the right to life, between Article 2 (1) and Protocols Nos. 6 and 13 as concerns the death penalty.

These worksheets, which are both theoretical and practical, are a dynamic resource to help teachers foster an awareness of human rights among their pupils.

This document provides an overview of how a number of national parliaments verify European human rights standards, as well as implement the European Court judgments. 

This document is a basic guide to the rights protected by the European Convention and the operation of the Eropean Court. It explains the complaints in relation to which it is possible to bring an application before the European Court, and how such a complaint may be made.

Prepared by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, this document provides recommendations to member states on efficient domestic capacity for rapid and effective execution of judgments.

Once the Court’s final judgment is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers, the respondent state is invited to inform it of the steps taken to pay the sums of just satisfaciton and, where appropriate, of the individual and general measures taken.

Judgments finding violations are binding on the States concerned and they are obliged to execute them. The process of executing the judgments is monitored by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The execution mechanisms can be consulted in this document.

This guide provides information to lawyers intending to bring a case before the European Court. It contains practical advice on proceedings both before national courts prior to applying to the European Court, before the Court itself, and during the execution of the Court’s judgments.

The Handbook focuses on the Committee of Ministers' supervisory role in the execution process, the individual and general measures taken to redress the consequences of the applicant’s rights violations found by the Court and prevent similar violations.

In a case before the Court, where a friendly settlement procedure has been unsuccessful, the respondent Government may make a declaration acknowledging the violation of the Convention and undertaking to provide the applicant with redress.

The document describes the Court's new policy adopted in 2009 regarding the order in which the cases are to be dealt with, considering the importance and urgency of the issues raised.

The pilot-judgment procedure was developed by the Court as a means of dealing with large groups of identical cases that derive from the same underlying problem. The aim of this information note is to provide information about this procedure.

Applicants who make a request for an interim measure pursuant to Rule 39 of the Rules of Court should comply with the requirements set out in this information note.

This information note provides some case-law examples on interim measures’ applicability. 

When the Court receives an application it may decide that a State should take certain measures provisionally while it continues its examination of the case. To learn what are interim measures and in what cases can they be requested, consult this document.

22nd General Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1 August 2011 - 31 July 2012).

 23rd General Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1 August 2012 - 31 July 2013).

24th General Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1 August 2013 - 31 December 2014 ).