European Convention on Human Rights in Comparison to American Bill of Rights.

Presentation prepared by professor

Mayia Shulga

Presentation outline

• History and purpose of the European Convention

• Who are parties to the Convention?

• European Convention vs. our Bill of Rights

• Implications of differences between the two documents

History and purpose of the European Convention

• Modeled on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948

• Signed and ratified by member states of the Council of Europe in 1953

• The aim of the Council is the achievement of greater unity between its members, democracy, peace, and human rights.

Knights vs. Cowboys

Who are parties to the Convention and how is it enforced?

• 47 member states are parties to the European Convention on Human Rights

• European Court of Human Rights is a supranational legislative body that adjudicates cases of human rights violations in the European states

• Examples: Airey v. Ireland (1979) Vogt v. Germany (1995) Steel & Morris v. UK (1997)

47 members of the Council of Europe: map

• http://hub.coe.int/en/

47 European Court Judges

Comparing European Convention to American Bill of Rights:

• Language of the Convention is less vague; it is more detailed, specific, up-to-date, and honest.

• Bill of Rights has a mystifying effect, creates an illusion that rights can be and are absolute.

A short video outlining the main rights and freedoms in the Convention:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOcmUQTgjCw&feature=plcp&context=C335a35cUDOEgsToPDskI6W3znOYbNheSgWr1z38n3

Comparison: the Convention outlines more rights

European Convention:• The right to education• The right to equality within a family• The right to property• The right to life • The right to marry• The right to free elections• The right to form a union• Prohibition of torture, slavery, capital punishment and

forced labor• Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex, race,

color, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, minority status, birth or other

• The right to liberty and security (no unlawful detention, including a right to compensation for unlawful arrest)

• The right to be informed of one’s rights and accusations when arrested

• The right to respect for private and family life• The right to an effective remedy when one’s rights are

violated• Aliens have a right to political activity• Presumption of innocence• The right to free movement, prohibition of mass

expulsion of foreigners

American Bill of Rights

• The “right” to bear arms

Comparison continued: strong humanistic values in the Convention

• “Universal rights”, “human rights”, “peace”, “justice”, “democracy”, “public good”, “non-discrimination” are common in the language of the Convention.

• None of these terms actually appear in the Bill of Rights.

Implications of differences between the two documents:

• American Constitution is losing appeal around the world.

• Why?-it is terse and old-it guarantees relatively few rights-it is often interpreted with eyes on the past-hard to amend

”Nobody wants to copy Windows 3.1”

Conclusion:

• Constitutional documents and proclamations of rights set parameters for political and policy debates.

• If more rights are enumerated in a given document, it means fewer things are up for debate.

Human Rights Convention and contemporary European politics

Human Rights commitment is endangered by conservative policies and strong nationalist policies (e.g. U.K., Russian Federation)

Vs.

U.S. – Human Rights discourse is not as vibrant as it is in Europe, plus also endangered by conservative and nationalist political currencies