Zastrzeżenia do Europejskiej Konwencji o Ochronie Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności

The first part of this article presents Article 57 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) and other reservation clauses (in protocols to the Convention) and discusses the characteristics of a system of reservations established by the ECHR and its Protocols. The second and third part analyse and critically appraise states’ practice concerning the formulation of reservations, and objections to other states’ reservations/declarations. The latter were formulated only in respect to some reservations formulated to the Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR. Before concluding with a general assessment of how this system works and what was its impact on other treaty regimes and on the general discussion on reservations to treaties, the role of the European Court of Human Rights (and the Commission before the entry into force of the Protocol No. 11) in the context of reservations is also discussed.

THE RIGHT TO A BALANCED AND HEALTHFUL ECOLOGY IN THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CASE LAW OF THE ECtHR

Objective:The author seeks to understand the content and legal guarantees of the right to sustainable, healthy and favorable environment in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The researcher seeks to list the case law of the ECtHR corresponding to environmental issues in order to define concrete aspects related to responsibility of the States for the climate change and global warming. The author analyzes new legal trends on the protection of the rights of individuals and groups to complain for violations of their rights to a healthy and favorable environment in the light of the European Convention on Human Rights. The article is focused on positive state obligations on a healthy and sustainable environment under the Convention provisions, Russian experience in eco-cases, admissibility criteria for complaints to the European Court of Human Rights in “environmental cases”. The writer gives an overview of the ECtHR’s legal positions on the right to a healthy and favorable (i.e. prosperous, clean, safe, quiet, calm, quality) environment by type of its pollution. The author considers the importance of facilitating the right to healthy environment according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.Methodology: The research uses general scientific and special cognitive techniques wherein legal analysis and synthesis, systemic, formal-legal, comparative-legal, historical-legal and dialectical methods are applied. The author applied a case study method to select the most recent and pilot cases of the ECtHR practice.Results: The author founds out that despite the fact of a non-exhaustive list of the legal positions of the ECtHR concerning the environment effect on human life and health, there is a certain trend in Council of Europe towards an extended interpretation of the human right to healthy ecological situation responding to new challenges to the realization that right, such as, the decarbonization of industrial processes, right to light, right to fresh air, clean water and clean atmosphere, etc. The study concludes with an idea that right to sustainable, healthy and favorable right is a collective right. From the practical perspective, potentially group of individuals should complain to the international judicial institutions to the violation of this right. The importance of the protection of that right is increasing within the technological progress. The right to healthy environment imposes to the European States a legal obligation to ensure right to life, prohibition of torture, right to privacy, right to a fair trial, right to an effective remedy and prohibition of discrimination. The researcher also point out that cases of environmental rights violations are complicated in terms of preparing a complaint and processing by the ECtHR. Due to this fact, it is hard to do so with regard to the causal link between the acts (omission) of state agencies, the violation of environmental rights and the consequences that occurred. It is not clear from the text of the Convention which article directly should be applied.Contributions: Following a review of the content, the author raised possible problems, strategies, suggestions and guidelines for the protection of the right to sustainable and healthy environment. The author concluded that near future new categories of legal cases related to the state responsibility for global warming and climate change will appear in international and national judicial system. The author encourages the complement to the international legal regulation of the protection of the right to healthy, sustainable and favorable ecology on universal and regional level.

Theory and Practice of the European Convention on Human Rights

This edited book brings you a collection of current, critical issues regarding the theory and practice of the European Court of Human Rights. The book is divided into three parts: procedural concerns, principles and jurisprudence, and interaction with national legal systems. Each chapter was written by an expert, with each author coming from a distinct background. The authors all presented at the 2019 University of Leipzig’s & University of Dresden’s 1st International Summer School on the European Court of Human Rights, with only select presenters asked to contribute to this book. The book’s goal is to promote further research and discourse on the operation of the Court, a goal that will be continued in the second summer school in 2021. With contributions by Veronika Bilkova, Katharina Braun, Robert Frau, Hanaa Hakiki, Beti Hohler, Stefanie Lemke, Helga Molbaek-Steensig, Jacopo Roberti di Sarsina, Christiane Schmaltz, Barbara Sonczyk, Dominik Steiger, Edith Wagner and Alain Zysset.

Protection of Whistleblowers by the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights

Whistleblower protection in the European Union is undergoing significant developments. The new Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law sets a minimum standard for the protection of whistleblowers. It is awaiting implementation in Member States' national law by December 2021. However, a certain level of protection is also guaranteed by the European Court of Human Rights case law principles. Reports of illegal activities provided from close internal sources can strengthen the protection of the EU's financial interests. Adequate protection is needed to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers. As the deadline for transposing this directive approaches, the article aims to analyse the Directive 2019/1973 and compare it with the protection guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Genetic Discrimination in Access to Life Insurance: Does Ukrainian Legislation Offer Sufficient Protection against the Adverse Consequences of the Genetic Revolution to Insurance Applicants?

This paper presents an inter-disciplinary study of the risk for, and protections against, genetic discrimination in access to life insurance in Ukraine. It aims (i) to review questions related to genetic information, health status, and family history currently included in Ukrainian life insurance application forms; (ii) to analyze the Ukrainian legislation related to equity and nondiscrimination and to determine whether it provides adequate protection against genetic discrimination (GD). Research findings of our insurance application forms review show that Ukrainian life insurance companies ask broad questions about health and family history that may be perceived by applicants as requiring the disclosure of their genetic information. Our legal analysis shows that today there are no genetic specific law protecting Ukrainians people against GD in insurance. However, Ukrainian human rights legislation provides some protection against multiple grounds of discrimination and given the ratification by Ukraine of the European Convention on Human Rights it is possible that these grounds could be interpreted by tribunals as also including genetic characteristics. As a next step, Ukrainian researchers should develop a survey to obtain much needed data on the incidence and impact of GD in Ukraine. Following this it will be possible for policymakers to better assess whether there is a need for an explicit non-GD law in this country. Such a law would have the benefit of explicitly aligning Ukraine’s legal framework with that of many of its European partners.

The doctrine of the margin of appreciation as a tool of relativisation of freedom of religion.

The objective of the paper is to determine the implications for the interpretation of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights resulting from the Court’s affording to national authorities the wide margin of appreciation when deciding whether in a given case there is a need to limit the exercise of freedom of religion. The use of the doctrine of margin of appreciation in such cases is justified both by the lack of an all-European consensus as to the proper model of relations between the state and religious communities and by divergences of views and traditions concerning the importance and impact of religion in the society. In consequence, the Court holds that restrictions on freedom of religion on grounds of the principle of secularism, which in some countries has a rank of a constitutional principle of the political system, are compatible with the Convention. This is the case eve where establishing a link between the restriction of this kind with any of the legitimate aims outlined in Article 9.2 of the Convention is highly disputable, if not impossible. Moreover, the excessive use of the doctrine of margin of appreciation in this context makes the protection level of freedom of religion contingent on prevailing ( not always rational and free from prejudice )views and attitudes towards some forms of manifestation of religious beliefs. This outcome, however, is difficult to reconcile with values underlying the Convention and the need for minority protection

Predictive analytics in crime prevention and the European Convention on Human Rights: tackling risks in privacy and fair trial frameworks

In this paper, I discuss whether the European Convention on Human Rights provides safeguards to individuals affected by predictive analytics in crime prevention. I start with depicting a conceptual issue that worries legal scholars – the trend of law-enforcement authorities to increase their attention to crime prevention rather than traditional criminal investigations. Then, I dive into the right to privacy case-law of the European Court of Human Rights looking for the Court’s references to the threats of data processing. Lastly, I select concrete cases of the European Court of Human Rights on the right to a fair trial to show that the human rights safeguards are not yet developed to frame predictive analytics in crime prevention.

The Applicability of the European Convention for Human Rights in Contested Territories

This article examines the applicability of the European Convention for Human Rights (ECHR) when a State loses control over parts of its territory. It argues that the jurisprudence of the European Court for Human Rights, which insists on residual positive obligations based in sovereign title over territory, is problematic and needs to be rethought. The Court’s current approach is not only likely to provoke backlash, since it requires it to decide politically explosive questions of sovereign title, but does so for very little practical benefit for the protection of human rights. The article therefore explores more preferable alternatives.

Protecting the Freedom of Corporate Commercial Expression and Advertising

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has consistently recognized corporationsas entities falling within the scope of protection of the European Convention on Human Rights.The ECHR’s perception of corporations as “beneficiaries” of human rights is subject to criticism forconceptual incompatibility (human rights can only apply to people) and accusations that as long ascompanies refuse to commit to human rights, they should not be able to benefit from their protection).There is a discussion in the scientific literature about the philosophical and legal rationale forgranting corporations human rights. It is clear that human rights are for man. Therefore, they needa philosophical understanding and theoretical substantiation of the issue of extrapolation of humanrights protection to corporations; because corporations have a certain impact on the economic andsocial life of people, people in this context are the weaker sides. What are the consequences?This article will consider the European Court of Human Rights’ approaches to protecting corporationsfor freedom of expression and advertising under Article 10 of the Convention on Human Rights.The main principles of protection of freedom of corporate expression and advertising are: 1) thecorporation has the right not only to protect freedom of expression and advertising, which appliesnot only to “information” or “ideas” that are favorably (positively) perceived by society, but alsothose that are considered offensive or shocking. Such are the demands of pluralism, tolerance andbroad-mindedness, without which there is no “democratic society;” 2) the protection of freedomof expression of corporations is subject to exceptions, which, however, must be interpreted strictly,and the need for any restrictions must be sufficiently convincing; 3) exceptions to the protectionof freedom of expression presuppose the existence of an “urgent social need” which determineswhether a “restriction” is compatible with freedom of expression, which is protected by Article 10 ofthe ECHR; 4) The task of the European Court of Human Rights in the administration of justice is todetermine whether the restrictions were “proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued” and whetherthe grounds given by the national authorities to justify them were “relevant and sufficient.” In doingso, the Court must satisfy itself that the domestic authorities applied standards which complied withthe principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Convention and, in addition, relied on an acceptableassessment of the relevant facts.According to the author, the criteria developed by the ECHR for assessing the protection of theright to freedom of corporate commercial expression and advertising are fair and effective. Given thefact that the European Convention on Human Rights is a living mechanism that should be interpretedin the “light” of modern conditions, the emergence of new improved approaches to determiningthe extent and existence of violations in this area should not be ruled out. It is true that in today’smarketplace, corporations have the right to defend their rights, including freedom of expression andadvertising, and to protect themselves, for example, from unfair competition, when a corporationis “attacked” by unfair accusations or baseless accusations that damage its business reputation. Inaddition, corporations must also respect and respect human rights. According to the author, thecreation of a truly effective mechanism for monitoring the observance of human rights by corporations can balance the weights of “opponents” and “supporters” of recognizing the right of corporations toprotection by referring to the principles of the European Convention on Human Rights.