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Lecture 1A: What are Fundamental Rights? Development, Sources, and Concepts
What is a human right? Core characteristics
• Human rights limit coercive power à individual rights limits power of sovereign.
• Human rights are rights à concepts that have legal significant. They come with duties
and obligations. They bring about the relationships between rightsholders and duty
bearers.
• Human rights are high priority both morally and legally à deserve more protection.
• Human rights constitute a language to address injustice.
Development of human rights
Emerged as tools to protect people against power.
• Before the French revolution people weren’t equal. After the French revolution we
started thinking of people as equal. Not all people, but the concept of equality became
possible. Political power had to emerge for the people to be legitimate. These people had
to be protected against access of this power. You can find this is in the Declarations.
• After WW2: people became aware that sovereignty and sovereign states were dangerous.
Nation states could not be trusted to protect the rights of their citizens. People became
aware that international law was needed to protect people against sovereign power. This
led to Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and slowly to other human rights
documents.
• Cold War: 2 documents 1 with civil and political rights & the other with social-economic
and cultural rights.
Human rights are rights.
• Rights impose obligations.
– Obligations of national states
– Obligations to act (protect/fulfil) or refrain (respect) from acting.
§ Respect à refrain from interfering with the enjoyment of the rights
§ Protect à prevent others from interfering with the enjoyment of the
right.
§ Fulfil à adopt appropriate measures towards full relegalizations of the
right.
• International human rights law: states are duty holders and individuals are rights holders.
• Role of the courts is crucial à Judicial review of government action.
– Judicial review of executive action (i.e., police)
– Judicial review of parliamentary legislation
ECHR – EU law
• European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) à Treaty (1950), signed by the States
who are parties (Contracting Parties) to the Council of Europe, an international
association of states. They do remain sovereign states that decide on their own legislation.
– 46 member states
• EU law:à Law of the European Union, a supranational (member states have given up
part of their sovereignty) legal order, which finds its origins in economic cooperation.
When it comes to certain areas, the member states can no longer make legislation.
– 27 member states
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,EU and ECHR – courts and legal effect
• Courts:
– EU à CJEU (Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg) or ECJ
– ECHRà ECtHR (European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg)
• Legal effects of ECHR and EU law in domestic legal orders:
– ECHR à international law
– EU law à direct effect and supremacy as EU law is supranational law.
ECHR and EU law: legal effect in national legal order
1. ECHR:
a. Monism or dualism
§ Monism à the national law and international law are one. You can apply
the international law directly. They are part of the domestic legal order.
§ Dualism à national legislation needs to convert the international
provision in national law. They are separated.
b. Legal effect of the provisions depends on national constitutional law.
2. EU law:
a. Direct effect (van Gend en Loos/Van Duyn)
b. Supremacy (COSTA Enel) à in case of conflict between national and
international law, international law prevails.
ECHR – The Council of Europe
1. Established in 1949 by a group of 10 states to promote democracy, the rule of law, and
greater unity among the nations of Western Europe.
2. Until 1990 confined to Western Europe; today: 47 Contracting Parties
3. Conditions for admission à a genuine democracy that respects the rule of law and
human rights; as a state you have to be party to the Convention.
Council of Europe: Institutions
1. The Secretary General
2. Committee of Ministers: foreign ministers of each member state.
3. Parliamentary Assembly: MPs from the parliament of each member state.
4. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities: promoting local and regional
democracy, social inclusion, etc.
5. The Commissioner for Human Rights - an independent institution, promotes respect for
human rights in member states.
6. The Congress of International; NGOs
7. The European Court of Human Rights
Goals of the Council
1. The main aims of the Council of Europe are the protection and support of human rights
and parliamentary democracy.
2. In order to meet these goals, the Council of Europe drafted the European Convention
on Human Rights (ECHR) in 1950 and its entry into force 3 September1953.
3. European Social Charter (entry into force 1965)
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,European Convention on Human Rights
• Established the first international complaints procedure and the first international court
of human rights.
• Transformation of abstract human rights ideals into a concrete legal framework
• Concerns over “sovereignty” and legitimacy
European Court of Human Rights
• The Convention laid down human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe and it has
also established an enforcement mechanism through the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR).
• As a judicial organ of the Council of Europe, it provides protection against human
rights violations.
Jurisdiction:
• Art 47: the Committee of ministers may request the court to give an advisory opinion on
any legal question concerning the interpretation of the Convention.
• Art 33 and 34: Contentious jurisdiction in the inter-state and individua cases (lecture 6).
The right of individual petition
• One of the most effective means of protecting human rights à you are not dependent
on national legislation.
• Essential element if the supervisory system established by the Convention.
• Convention protects the rights of individuals (natural or legal persons), but not groups as
such.
• Only parties who are directly affected by a violation of the rights may bring a claim in
Strasbourg (see more in lecture 6)
Steps to take:
1. It concerns an appeal to the ECHR.
2. Legal effect depends on the question whether the state has a monist or dualist system.
a. Monism à applicant can invoke article directly in national court.
b. Dualism à applicant cannot invoke article directly in national court.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
• Has no power to intervene directly in the supervision and execution of judgments by the
offending State.
• Article 3 of the Statute of the Council of Europe provides that respect for human rights
is a fundamental principle underlying participation in the Council.
• Article 8 empowers the Committee of Ministers to suspend or even to expel from the
Council of Europe any member State guilty of serious human rights violations.
Legal effect: Sources EU Law (compare CoE)
• Primary law:
– The Treaties
§ Treaty on European Union (TEU): general provisions defining the Union.
§ Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU): specific
provisions with regard to EU institutions and policies
– The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU
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, § Entry into force with Treaty of Lisbon, it has the same legal value as the
Treaties.
• Secondary law: is made by the Union institutions.
– Legal acts in Art. 288 TFEU:
§ Regulations à do not need implementation.
§ Directives à need implementation.
§ Decisions à do not need implementation.
Direct effect: Van Gend en Loos
• Can EU law be invoked in a national court? à so, when a member state hasn’t
implemented or applied EU law correctly, can an individual/company invoke this
provision in national court? Yes! You don’t need to wait for implementation.
• Treaty and regulation have direct effect in national courts. They do not need
implementation.
• Why direct effect?
– ‘The EU is A new legal order…the subjects of which are not only states, but also
individuals!
– EU law is intended to give people rights.
– Without direct effect, states could block those rights.
The Community constitutes a new legal order of international law for the benefit of which the
states have limited their sovereign rights, [...] and the subjects of which comprise not only
member states but also their nationals. Independently of the legislation of member states,
community law therefore not only imposes obligations on individuals but is also intended to
confer upon them rights which become part of their legal heritage.
The wording of article 12 contains a clear and unconditional prohibition which is not a
positive but a negative obligation. This obligation, moreover, is not qualified by any reservation
on the part of states which would make its implementation conditional upon a positive legislative
measure enacted under national law. The very nature of this prohibition makes it ideally adapted
to produce direct effects in the legal relationship between member states and their subjects.
Direct effect of Directives
• Van Duyn: (parts of) directives can also have direct effect against states.
• Direct effect of directives:
– Only if sufficiently clear and unconditional (Van Gend & Loos) “shall be”.
– Only if deadline for implementation has passed.
• Why? otherwise, EU law wouldn’t be ‘effective.’ And later:’ otherwise states could ‘profit
from their own wrong’
Steps:
1. It concerns an EU Directive: Van Duyn is applicable.
2. Provision sufficiently clear as regards the rights/obligations?
a. Identify the right/obligation: “Article 6(4) imposes on MS’s the obligation to ….,
in case of ….”
b. Is it sufficiently clear for a national judge to determine which right or obligation
must be granted/imposed?
3. Unconditional? Is the right/obligation identified above conditional on the MS having
adopted national legislation/further measures?
4. Implementation date? given the number (2008/115) may be assumed.
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