ECHR Anniversary
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights was established to monitor human rights throughout Europe. Now celebrating its half-century, we look back at the ground-breaking Court’s history and see what Human Rights Law and Practice author Lord Lester has to say about the changing face of the court at the forefront of human rights law.
ECHR: in brief…
Established in 1959, the European Court of Human Rights is the judicial body to enforce the European Convention of Human Rights.
The Court wasn’t made permanent until 1st November 1998, with full-time judges who were appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
All 47 member states of the Council of Europe are party to the Convention and can be brought before the ECHR if they commit human rights violations.
The original system of split institutions encompassing the European Commission of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights rolled into one under Protocol 11.
British architect Richard Rogers designed the Strasbourg-based building, which was completed in 1995. Its unusual structure is supposed to reflect the then-split aspects of the ECHR.
The ECHR covers around 800million Europeans across the 47 member states that have ratified the Convention.
The Court elects a judge for each of the contracting party member states, who are represented irrespective of nationality and are expected to be impartial.
It is down to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to see that states follow judgements, but they can’t actually force compliance. The ultimate price of non-compliance is expulsion from the Council.
Over the past 50 years the Court has delivered more than 10,000 judgements; the 10,000th of which was ruled on 18th September 2008.
To mark the Court’s 50th year Lord Lester gave a lecture at a special conference. Click to read the entire transcript of Lord Lester’s speech marking the ECHR’s half-century.
Visit the official ECHR website.
Publishing Date: March 2009
General Editors: Lord Lester QC, Lord Pannick QC, and Javan Herberg,
Blackstone Chambers
