Sir Nicolas Bratza, the retiring president of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has criticised the attitude of the UK government towards the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). 3 September marked the 60th anniversary of the ECHR coming into force. Sir Nicolas was speaking at an event on that day hosted by the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) and the Law Society – “Sixty years of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR): What does the future hold?”
Sir Nicolas Bratza became a judge on the European Court of Human Rights in 1998 and served as court president from 2011 to 2012. He is now the President of the British Institute of Human Rights.
Relations between the UK government and the ECtHR have become strained in recent years. Both the Home Secretary, Theresa May and the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling calling for the UK to withdraw from the ECHR or for the Convention to play a more limited role in the UK courts. Commenting on the impact of this tension on the UK’s international reputation Sir Bratza said, “I question what has happened here at home, to bring about the tarnishing of the legacy which the UK inherited when ratifying the Convention and enacting the Human Rights Act which gave effect to it – that remarkable piece of legislation, which has, brought great benefits to a great many people in this country?”
He called for politicians to speak openly in defence of the Human Rights Act and the ECHR and for the press to ensure more balanced coverage of ECHR matters. He added, “Rekindling the fire and keeping the Act and the UK within the Convention will not be an easy task. It will involve confronting those determined to destroy both. But it will also involve taking every opportunity to make more widely known to the general public the untold benefits which have derived from bringing rights home. It will be a hard fight, but one worth winning. It is more than that; it is a fight which must be won.”
Speaking at the same conference, Durham University's Professor Fiona de Londras contrasted Ireland’s relationship to the ECtHR with that of the UK. She described the Irish experience of the Convention and the Court as “collaborative and positive” and suggested that Ireland’s constitutional approach to rights may have reduced the “culture shock” of applying Convention rights at domestic level. She added that, even when faced with adverse decisions from the ECtHR, non-compliance with the Convention has not been considered an option, saying, “After A, B & C v Ireland [which held that Ireland’s position on abortion violated the ECHR] any suggestion that we would not give effect to the judgment was dismissed immediately, vocally and unequivocally as unacceptable. Ireland, we were reminded, always complies with the ECtHR because we have committed to do so and because compliance with these judgments is part of being a member of the European community of states committed to a European rule of law.”
Click here to read Professor de Londras’s speaking notes.
Click here to read a press release from the British Institute of Human Rights.
Click here to read an article on the UK Human Rights Blog about Sir Nicolas' comments and the event.