The Council of Europe and the European Convention on human rights (echr).

Since its foundation the Council of Europe has drawn up over 170 conventions. These aim to harmonize judicial practice in the member states and are binding on states which have ratified them. The first instrument of this kind devised by the Council of Europe was the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which was signed in Rome in 1950. This international treaty is of unparalleled importance. It goes beyond the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states by requiring the signatory states to secure certain rights and freedoms to everyone in their jurisdiction. The Convention defines these universal rights and freedoms, which are inalienable, indissociable and interdependent, whether civil, political, economic, social or cultural in nature. The Convention goes much further than the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, since its authors did not confine them selves to merely drawing up a list of rights but, at the European regional level, transformed the principles asserted in the Universal Declaration into tangible legal obligations. To this end, they established an international supervisory and protective system. All individuals deeming themselves to have been the victim of a violation of the rights secured in the Convention may lodge a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, after exhausting the legal remedies available in their own country.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11