3.6 The terms of the European Convention on Human Rights

Discussion

The above website gave you the information that the ECHR opened for signature on 4 November 1950 in Rome and that to enter into force ten ratifications were necessary – the date on which these were obtained was 3 September 1953. A series of questions then followed – by clicking on these you were able to find further information about the number of signatories, declarations made and access the full text of the convention.

You should have been able to identify a number of protocols from the information provided. Some protocols have been used to grant additional rights under the Convention (Protocols 1, 4, 6, 7, 12 and 13). Protocols 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 amended the text of the Convention. However, all provisions amended or added by those protocols have been replaced by Protocol 11 as of 1 November 1998. The use of protocols has allowed the original convention to remain a flexible and living document.

The table below lists the member states of the Council of Europe and the dates on which they signed and ratified the convention. It reflects the position on 31 January 2006.

Whilst this table provides a list of HCPs, it does not provide a full picture as some of the HCPs have made reservations, declarations and objections. The Council of Europe website (accessed 16 January 2008) provides full details of these, including which articles they concern, the period covered and the reasons why. At the time of writing, 25 HCPs had made reservations or declarations. If you looked at the detailed list on the website, you will have seen that the United Kingdom had issued a statement concerning Article 15 and that the period covered was from 12 November 1998. The domestic legislation referred to contained provisions for the prevention of terrorism and port control and was extended to cover the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

The website of the Council of Europe provides a great deal of information. Often one of the challenges is navigating around all the information provided. For this activity you were asked to undertake a search for specific information and there were a number of ways in which you could have achieved this. The Council of Europe has attempted to make its website informative but user friendly with quick links, a search option and an A-Z index. It also clearly indicates when the site was last updated.