EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

European Convention of Human Rights



European Convention of Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) represents the convergence of two significant streams of postwar thought: the formation of ever-closer union between the European states, and the development of international human rights guarantees. The Convention has contributed to the development of domestic law within the signatories, and to the development of regional human rights guarantees elsewhere, as well as to the global regimes. At the same time, the Convention is a living document, capable of amendment by the signatories and, more tellingly, development by the Convention organs responsible for its application and interpretation. As a consequence of these characteristics, there is a very sizeable body of literature relevant to the Convention, both in English and other languages. The selected publications represent Anglophone contributions to the secondary literature on the Convention, and have been chosen for their value to potential readers who will have differing background knowledge of law in general and international law in particular (Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, 2003).

The Convention represents part of a more global movement to develop guarantees of fundamental rights against states. Steiner 8c Alston provides a solid introduction to this international human rights movement. Although primarily focused on international law, it succeeds in taking into account a variety of other perspectives, and has been written with a view to readers from other disciplines seeking to develop an understanding of the area. As well as collecting together tightly edited selections from key primary and secondary sources, the authors provide a useful commentary to these sources. Against these strengths, the text is inevitably selective in terms of the range of issues discussed, and necessarily deals with particular regimes, including the Convention, relatively briefly (Department for Media, Culture and Sport, 2003, pp.96).

Harris & Joseph provide a strong collection of essays dealing with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the law of the United Kingdom. The ICCPR and the Convention deal with many of the same issues, often in very similar terms. Commentators seeking to understand the Convention frequently have recourse to the ICCPR. Of narrower value to understanding the particular context of the Convention, Teitgen provides a participant's account of the formation of the Convention. This account identifies a number of philosophical and strategic tensions present at the formation of the Convention, and still relevant today — particularly the tension between European union, and authority, and the independence of the nation states, which is discussed further below. Although informally written, and relatively poorly referenced, it provides a useful insight into the early formation of the Convention. In particular, there is a danger of retrospectively taking the ECHR guarantees as given, which this piece dispels (Frost, 2000, pp.147).

As an introductory study of the Convention itself, Robertson & Merills has many merits. The text is very clearly written, striking a fine balance between providing sufficient details to support the arguments and overwhelming the reader, especially the reader new to the ...