This book provides analysis and critique of the dual protection of human rights in Europe by assessing the developing legal relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The book offers a comprehensive consideration of the institutional framework, adjudicatory approaches, and the protection of material rights within the law of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It particularly explores the involvement and participation of stakeholders in the functioning of the EU and the ECtHR, and asks how well the new legal model of ‘the EU under the ECtHR’ compares to current EU law, the ECHR and general international law. Including contributions from leading scholars in the field, each chapter sets out specific case-studies that illustrate the tensions and synergies emergent from the EU-ECHR relationship. In so doing, the book highlights the overlap and dialectic between Europe’s two primary international courts. The book will be of great interest to students and researchers of European Law and Human Rights.

EU commitment to human rights policies has grown following the Lisbon Treaty. Taking stock of those developments, this book describes the framework, actors, policies, and strategies of human rights across the EU and how their impact is felt. Contributed to by scholars from across the EU, this provides an in-depth and holistic view of the issues.

Over 800 million Europeans can individually obtain a ruling from a European court against their State if it has violated their human rights. There is an assembly in Strasbourg where members of the Icelandic, Russian, Portuguese, German, Georgian and other European parliaments all sit together. A Congress exists whose sessions are attended by representatives of 200 000 local and regional authorities of Europe. All these statements relate to the Council of Europe, the first of the European institutions to be founded. Now 47 member states strong, the Council - which is to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year - has become one of the main institutions of intergovernmental co-operation. This book looks at the political role of the Council of Europe, which is now not only a forum for democracy and a gage of stability, the home of human rights and the forum of cultural diversity, but also the crucible of Europe and the future for politics. The author examines all that is specific to the Council of Europe within the European architecture, particularly vis-á-vis the European Union. This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to study the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, understand how it operates and find out about the contribution that it makes.

Confusion about the differences between the Council of Europe (the parent body of the European Court of Human Rights) and the European Union is commonplace amongst the general public. It even affects some lawyers, jurists, social scientists and students. This book will enable the reader to distinguish clearly between those human rights norms which originate in the Council of Europe and those which derive from the EU, vital for anyone interested in human rights in Europe and in the UK as it prepares to leave the EU. The main achievements of relevant institutions include securing minimum standards across the continent as they deal with increasing expansion, complexity, multidimensionality, and interpenetration of their human rights activities. The authors also identify the central challenges, particularly for the UK in the post-Brexit era, where the components of each system need to be carefully distinguished and disentangled.

Presents a critical evaluation of a controversial interpretative tool the ECtHR uses to answer morally/politically sensitive human rights questions.

The European Court of Human Rights has long been part of the most advanced human rights regime in the world. However, the Court has increasingly drawn criticism, with questions raised about its legitimacy and backlog of cases. This book for the first time brings together the critics of the Court and its proponents to debate these issues. The result is a collection which reflects balanced perspectives on the Court's successes and challenges. Judges, academics and policymakers engage constructively with the Court's criticism, developing novel pathways and strategies for the Court to adopt to increase its legitimacy, to amend procedures to reduce the backlog of applications, to improve dialogue with national authorities and courts, and to ensure compliance by member States. The solutions presented seek to ensure the Court's relevance and impact into the future and to promote the effective protection of human rights across Europe. Containing a dynamic mix of high-profile contributors from across Council of Europe member States, this book will appeal to human rights professionals, European policymakers and politicians, law and politics academics and students as well as human rights NGOs.

This book explores the human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe: the Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the European Committee of Social Rights, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. The book will look at each mechanism in turn and consider a number of issues including: at the role and procedures; its effectiveness in terms of monitoring ands ensuring its findings are implemented; its level of cooperation with other international actors including other organs of the Council of Europe, UN and EU bodies, NGOs and national human rights institutions and ombudsmen; its relationship with the European Court of Human Rights; and whether human rights indicators would be useful in improving its monitoring. Each chapter will be written by an expert in the field. The introduction to the volume will outline the common features and purposes of these mechanisms as well as key questions to be addressed in the following chapters, while the conclusion will provide an evaluation of their effectiveness and consider future perspectives.