05 Mai 2023
The UK vs the ECtHR
In recent months, the UK government has tabled two Bills - the Bill of Rights Bill and the Illegal Migration Bill - before Parliament which would have the consequence - and almost certainly have the intention - of setting the UK on a collision course with the Council of Europe, and especially the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This post details how these Bills serve to undermine the UK’s obligations under the ECHR and explains their significance within the larger debate surrounding the UK’s possible withdrawal from the Convention. It places this debate in the context of the rarely-convened Council of Europe summit of heads of state and government in Reykjavik in May 2023, whose ambitious agenda is to protect the ‘common heritage’ of respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the face of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and other existential threats. Continue reading >>
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31 Januar 2023
Adapt or Die?
The year 2022 will be remembered as one of ‘terrible violence and seismic change in Europe’, in the words of the High Level Reflection Group established by the Council of Europe to consider the organisation’s future. The Council of Europe has issued a public call for ideas, inviting input from international organisations, national human rights institutions, civil society organisations, academics, human rights defenders and others. The deadline for submissions is imminent – 20 February – and the need for radical thinking has never been greater. Continue reading >>
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24 Januar 2023
The Council of Europe Creates a Black Box for AI Policy
The Council of Europe Committee on AI has made a startling decision to carry forward future work on the development of an international convention on AI behind closed doors, despite the Council’s call for the Democratic Governance of Artificial Intelligence in a 2020 resolution. It is a surprising move from an international organization that has been at the forefront of efforts to promote greater transparency and accountability for the technology that is transforming the world. Continue reading >>
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17 Juni 2022
The UK’s anti-legal populism
Calls for UK withdrawal from the ECHR are raised at fairly regular intervals in certain quarters of the Conservative party, but this week various members of the Government, including the Prime Minister. Reason for this was an interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights that stopped a deportation flight to Rwanda. It was entirely predictable that calls for UK withdrawal from the ECHR would resurface. Less predictable for many, are the implications this would hold for the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Continue reading >>05 April 2022
A Backdoor Exit from the European Convention on Human Rights
Russia left the Council of Europe on 16 March 2022. The European Court of Human Rights declared that Russia will remain a Party to the Convention until 16 September 2022. This resolution is inconsistent with applicable termination rules. But even beyond technicalities, it reveals fundamental defects in the design of the ECHR denunciation clause. Forced withdrawal and expulsion from the Council, as mechanisms to sanction severe violations of human rights, should not have the effect of relieving the delinquent State of its conventional human rights obligations. Continue reading >>
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04 April 2022
The Council of Europe as an AI Standard Setter
On 4 April 2022, Member States of the Council of Europe commences negotiations on the world’s first international binding legal instrument in the field of artificial intelligence. The CoE has a large reservoir of both experience and expertise in the field of standard setting, as far as the three key priorities are concerned: promoting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Given the undisputed need for regulating AI activities, the CoE appears a prime candidate for this undertaking. Continue reading >>
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25 März 2022
The Council of Europe’s Sharp Turn
The Council of Europe (CoE) responded promptly to Russia’s act of aggression against Ukraine first by suspending Russia’s representation rights on 25 February 2022, and then by expelling it on 16 March 2022 in accordance with Article 8 of the Statute. The Committee of Ministers used the Article 8 procedure for the first time in the history of the CoE. This might have crucial implications for the broader CoE context and could make the threat of suspension and expulsion more credible for other member states as well. Continue reading >>
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04 November 2021
Who monitors compliance with fundamental values in EU Member States?
In 2014, the European Commission created a framework for the rule of law and the European Parliament has repeatedly proposed to extend this procedure to an Annual Monitoring Cycle on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights. The insistence with which this proposal is formulated is intriguing because a similar procedure already existed in the Council of Europe for almost 30 years, under the responsibility of the Parliamentary Assembly. What are the political interests and practical considerations that underly what at first glance looks like a competition between the two European organizations? Continue reading >>
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03 Februar 2020
The Struggle of Strasbourg
This year’s Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) saw three distinct yet interrelated developments. On Tuesday, the Assembly decided to open a monitoring procedure with regard to Poland on behalf of the ongoing rule of law backsliding. On Wednesday, the Assembly decided to ratify the credentials of the Russian delegates which had previously been challenged both on procedural and on substantive grounds. Still on Wednesday, the Assembly backed the proposal for the introduction of a new ‘complementary joint procedure’, together with the Committee of Ministers, in response to violations of fundamental principles underlying the work of the organisation. Continue reading >>28 Dezember 2019
An Internal Safety Net for the Council of Europe?
By January 2020, a new complementary joint procedure shall be in place to respond to serious violations by a member state of its statutory obligations. However, several open questions remain. Continue reading >>
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