Wednesday 21 October 2020

ECHR Articles in Newest HRLR

The September 2020 issue of the Human Rights Law Review (vol. 20, issue 3) has now been put online. These are the ECHR-related articles:

* Mathieu Leloup, 'The Concept of Structural Human Rights in the European Convention on Human Rights':

'This article introduces the concept of structural human rights in the context of the European Convention on Human Rights. It starts from the observation that the current understanding of human rights obligations does not account for all the effects that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights have in practice. To comply with their obligations under the Convention, States Parties may be required to modify their very institutional architecture. The article argues that this is a consequence of structural human rights. These are fundamental rights that, when enforced, may impose structural obligations, requiring changes to a State's governmental structure. The article offers a theoretical underpinning of the concept and indicates the benefits of understanding Convention rights also in a structural way. Furthermore, the notion is conceptualised further by way of an overview of several strands of case law, demonstrating the way in which Convention rights can develop their structural nature and what kind of structural effects they may have.'

* Daley J. Birkett, 'Asset Freezing at the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights: Lessons for the International Criminal Court, the United Nations Security Council and States':

'This article examines the human rights implications of the asset freezing processes available to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council. It does so through the lens of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, from whose jurisprudence, although not uniform, a number of principles can be distilled. By scrutinising a series of cases decided under the European Convention on Human Rights and American Convention on Human Rights, respectively, the article demonstrates that the rights to the peaceful enjoyment of property and to respect for one’s private and family life, home and correspondence are necessarily implicated by the execution of asset freezing measures in criminal and administrative contexts. The article concludes that, considering the human rights constraints placed on the exercise of their powers, both the International Criminal Court and United Nations Security Council, as well as States acting at their request, must pay attention to this case law with a view to respecting the human rights of those to whom asset freezing measures are applied.'

* Ergul Celiksoy, 'Execution of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Prisoners’ Right to Vote Cases':

'This article examines the responses from Austria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, the UK and Turkey to the Court’s rulings on prisoners’ right to vote and discusses whether or not they have complied with them, as recognised by the Committee of Ministers. To this end, it first provides a brief overview of prisoners’ right to vote under the ECtHR’s jurisprudence. Thereafter, it explores what reforms have been made by these six countries in order to execute the ECtHR’s judgments in prisoners’ right to vote cases and discusses whether these reforms can be considered sufficient to satisfy the ECtHR’s criteria with which they must comply. It concludes that the closures of prisoners’ voting rights cases concerning Austria, Georgia and Romania are positive since they have effectively executed the Court’s judgments in their domestic jurisdictions. However, the article argues that the Committee of Ministers has erred in closing its examination of prisoners’ right to vote cases against Russia, the UK and Turkey, because the structural problems of prisoners’ disenfranchisement have not been solved in these countries due to the retention of disproportionate restrictions imposed on convicted prisoners’ voting rights.'