European Convention On Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in

Europe

. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed

Council of Europe

,The Council of Europe should not be confused with the

Council of the European Union

or the European Council. the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953. All Council of Europe member states are party to the Convention and new members are expected to ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.

The Convention established the

European Court of Human Rights

(generally referred to by the initials ECHR). Any person who feels their rights have been violated under the Convention by a state party can take a case to the Court. Judgments finding violations are binding on the States concerned and they are obliged to execute them. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe monitors the execution of judgements, particularly to ensure payments awarded by the Court appropriately compensate applicants for the damage they have sustained.

The Convention has several protocols, which amend the convention framework.

The Convention has had a significant influence on the law in Council of Europe member countries and is widely considered the most effective international treaty for human rights protection.

History

The European Convention on Human Rights has played an important role in the development and awareness of human rights in Europe.
The development of a regional system of human rights protections operating across Europe can be seen as a direct response to twin concerns. First, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the convention, drawing on the inspiration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, can be seen as part of a wider response from the Allied powers in delivering a human rights agenda to prevent the most serious human rights violations which had occurred during the Second World War from happening again. Second, the Convention was a response to the growth of Stalinism in Central and Eastern Europe and designed to protect the member states of the

Council of Europe

from communist subversion. This, in part, explains the constant references to values and principles that are "necessary in a democratic society" throughout the Convention, despite the fact that such principles are not in any way defined within the convention itself.

From 7 to 10 May 1948, politicians including

Winston Churchill

, François Mitterrand and

Konrad Adenauer

, civil society representatives, academics, business leaders, trade unionists, and religious leaders convened the Congress of Europe in

The Hague

. At the end of the Congress, a declaration and following pledge to create the Convention was issued. The second and third Articles of the Pledge stated: "We desire a Charter of Human Rights guaranteeing liberty of thought, assembly and expression as well as right to form a political opposition. We desire a Court of Justice with adequate sanctions for the implementation of this Charter."

The Convention was drafted by the

Council of Europe

after the Second World War and Hague Congress. Over 100 parliamentarians from the twelve member states of the Council of Europe gathered in Strasbourg in the summer of 1949 for the first ever meeting of the Council's Consultative Assembly to draft a "charter of human rights" and to establish a court to enforce it. British MP and lawyer Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, the Chair of the Assembly's Committee on Legal and Administrative Questions, was one of its leading members and guided the drafting of the Convention, based on an earlier draft produced by the European Movement. As a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials

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