European Convention on Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights forms the bedrock of the most advanced regional system of international human rights protection. Yet very little is known of the organisation from which the Convention is derived. As Europe’s regional rights watchdog, the Council of Europe facilitates the development and convergence of regional human rights norms. However, there is currently little academic research on the Council of Europe within International Relations scholarship, or European Integration Studies. Furthermore, literature on European human rights protection places greater emphasis on the Convention and its European Court of Human Rights. To this end, the literature is legalistic, leaving a sizeable gap in the Social Sciences on the Council of Europe’s role in respect to European human rights protection. Panellists will thus present papers examining the following key issues: the Council of Europe and the politics of Holocaust remembrance; its role and authority in human rights policy-making; its role in protecting minorities rights; the role of civil society in domestic legislating of European human rights law.