Public International Law and Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was signed in 1950 in the framework of the Council of Europe. The convention is the first legal document that ensures the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. Besides, it establishes mechanism of control over the protection of these rights. The effectiveness of the ECHR is preconditioned by the fact that the fulfillments of its judgments are legally binding and obligatory, at the same time the ECtHR oversees the enforcement of judgments. The aforementioned factors differentiate the ECtHR from the rest mechanism of human rights protection, whose judgments are only recommendatory. The negligence of the fulfillment of the judgments of the ECtHR might cause temporary pending of the states' membership or might lead to exclusion of a state from the organization.