ECHR

Question 1

What do human rights laws generally have?

Answer 1

a negative and positive obligation

Question 2

what is the positive obligation?

Answer 2

obligation on the state to protect the right

• general regulatory measures
• special protective measures

Question 3

what is the negative obligation?

Answer 3

imposes obligations on states and governments to make sure that these rights are protected and not interfered with

Question 4

What is the European Convention on Human Rights?

Answer 4

most significant piece of human rights legislation in the entire world
outlines a wide range of rights to which individuals are entitled

Question 5

What are the three different types of rights under the ECHR?

Answer 5

absolute, limited and qualified

Question 6

What are absolute rights?

Answer 6

must be upheld in all circumstances, cannot be interfered with or derogated from

Question 7

what are limited rights?

Answer 7

can be interfered with in very limited circumstances

Question 8

what are qualified rightd?

Answer 8

one which can be restricted or taken away so long as they satisfy a number of criteria, can be balanced against the public interest or rights of others

Question 9

What are two ways a matter can be taken to the European Court of Human Rights?

Answer 9

• one country may bring a case against another
• individual petition procedure enables individuals, companies or groups that claim to be victims of fundamental rights violations to bring claims before the court

Question 10

What did the Human Rights Act 1988 do?

Answer 10

incorporated parts of the ECHR into domestic law

Question 11

where and when was the ECHR drafter?

Answer 11

drafted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in 1949

Question 12

when did the ECHR come into force?

Answer 12

1953

Question 13

what was the main point of the ECHR?

Answer 13

to create an independent guarantee to ensure that governments would never again be able to dehumanise and abuse people’s rights with impunity

Question 14

what are the two institutions of the ECHR?

Answer 14

Council of Europe
European Court of Human Rights

Question 15

What is the European Court of Human Rights?

Answer 15

a supernational court with jurisdiction to rule on the application of victims of an alleged breach against a state or by a state alleging a violation of rights by another state
can issue an advisory opinion on request from the council of europe or from the highest court and tribunal of the contracting states

Question 16

what are the stages of a decision in the ECtHR?

Answer 16

• admissibility = ECtHR examines whether the court has the jurisdiction to hear a case and whether the person has the standing to bring it
• merits = ECtHR determines whether there has been a violation of convention rights
• execution = committee of ministers ensures that the member state comply with the decision of the ECtHR

Question 17

what are the classification of obligations?

Answer 17

• substantive
• procedural

Question 18

what are substantive obligations?

Answer 18

one that defines the duties on the state to respect and protect the interests of the individual. can be further divided into negative and positive

Question 19

what are procedural obligations?

Answer 19

an obligation to have in place procedures to determine whether the interests of the individual have been respected and protected

Question 20

what does the ECHR contain?

Answer 20

terms and concepts that require interpretation before they can be applied to actual cases

Question 21

what is the margin of appreciation?

Answer 21

states have the primary duty to secure human rights and they are allowed a degree of freedom of choice over the measures they take regarding the issues that are the subject matter of the different articles of the convention

Question 22

where might states have little or no margin of appreciation?

Answer 22

where convention standard is objective, and its application more straightforward
where an important convention principle needs to be upheld

Question 23

where might states have a wide margin of appreciation?

Answer 23

matters of controversy and diverging views, particularly in respect of moral issues
- matters of social policy
- matters over which states are assumed to have special, exclusive knowledge