The European Court of Human Rights is hugely important. From the right to an education to the right to vote, it covers and protects all aspects of our lives. The idea of losing it cause of some lies about “boat people” is terrifying and the effect on our lives untold.
Can someone explain how exactly the ECHR protects us? Or anyone for that matter? The ECHR doesn’t make laws in our country, that’s just not how government works here. And I don’t think it makes laws anywhere else either. So what exactly does it do and how does it do it?
Genuinely interested if anyone can explain.
The European Court of Human Rights enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, which is an internationally treaty that was ratified in the UK in 1951 (with enthusiastic support from Churchill). It lists a bunch of fundamental rights.
In 1998, the UK passed the Human Rights Act, which provides these protections under domestic law, with the European court acting as a backstop.
So, yes, this is domestic law.
If you sign up to the ECHR you are saying that you will secure the rights defined under it within your jurisdiction; that’s Article 1. So it doesn’t make the laws, but it requires that they be made.
