The European Convention on Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty. It was developed in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust and was conceived as an “early warning system” to prevent European states from sinking into totalitarianism and tyranny.

The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty under which Council of Europe member states guarantee fundamental civil and political rights, not only to their nationals but also to all persons under their jurisdiction. Signed on 4 November 1950 in Rome, the Convention came into force in 1953.

In short, the ECHR and its Protocols:

• set out the fundamental rights and freedoms that the 47 member states of the Council of Europe must guarantee to anyone under their jurisdiction,
• and establishes a system of judicial review – the European Court of Human Rights – that can hold states that violate human rights to account.

ECHR law and general fundamental rights and general rights are diffuse and fundamental rights are diffuse and fundamental rights all branches of law (civil, criminal, administrative, commercial, constitutional, international, etc.). They often question civil society on complex issues such as bioethics, new technologies, the right to a healthy environment, the right to abortion, homosexuality and homosexuality, and are sometimes at the centre of issues political and geopolitical issues.

In a complex matter where the eCHR law, mainly of a judicial nature and of cross-influence, is constantly evolving, the firm of Mr. Grégory THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ is committed to advising and assisting you throughout the proceedings before the Court, the last instance in which the litigant can assert his rights.

In this area, the firm provides you with a number of relevant information on the procedure to be followed, the scope and limitations of the ECHR, its impact on national law, etc.

1. Procedure before the Court and the handling of cases (operation, referral, admissibility)

The procedure before the Court is a complex procedure to be controlled and subject to very strict formalism (Article 47 of the Regulations).

The filing of an application is only possible if the conditions of admissibility provided by the Convention have been met. It is a characteristic of the supranational procedure, which is thus singularly close, albeit with specific traits, to national judicial procedures.

As a general rule, they set the framework within which the Court should be placed.

The different conditions of admissibility stipulated in Articles 34 and 35 of the Convention do not all have the same purpose, nor the same weight

The LAW OFFICE THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ will guide you in this particular procedure in order to avoid the many pitfalls.

To visualize the path of a query:

• Introduction and progress of an application to the ECHR
• Simplified diagram of the path of an application to the Court according to the judicial formation

2. The execution of the Court’s judgments

In accordance with Article 46 of the Convention, infringement judgments are mandatory for condemned states that are required to enforce them. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers ensures that judgments are carried out, including that the sums of money allocated by the Court to the claimants in reparation for the damage they have suffered are actually paid to them.

When a judgment of violation is rendered, the Court transfers the file to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which determines with the country concerned and the enforcement service how to carry out the judgment concerned and prevent any new convention violation. This translates into general measures, including changes in legislation, and, if necessary, individual measures.

The LAW OFFICE THUAN Dit DIEUDONNÉ REGULARly acts before the Committee of Ministers.

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