Edit]Convention protocols

As of January 2010, fifteen protocols to the Convention have been opened for signature. These can be divided into two main groups: those amending the framework of the convention system, and those expanding the rights that can be protected. The former require unanimous ratification by member states before coming into force, while the latter require a certain number of states to sign before coming into force.

[edit]Protocol 1

This Protocol contains three different rights in which the signatories could not agree to place in the Convention itself. Monaco and Switzerland have signed but never ratified Protocol 1.^[23]

[edit]Article 1 - property

Article 1 provides for the right to the peaceful enjoyment of one's possessions.

[edit]Article 2 - education

Article 2 provides for the right not to be denied an education and the right for parents to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and other views. It does not however guarantee any particular level of education of any particular quality.^[24]

Although phrased in the Protocol as a negative right, in Şahin v. Turkey the Court ruled that:

"it would be hard to imagine that institutions of higher education existing at a given time do not come within the scope of the first sentence of Article 2 of Protocol No 1. Although that Article does not impose a duty on the Contracting States to set up institutions of higher education, any State doing so will be under an obligation to afford an effective right of access to them. In a democratic society, the right to education, which is indispensable to the furtherance of human rights, plays such a fundamental role that a restrictive interpretation of the first sentence of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 would not be consistent with the aim or purpose of that provision."^[25]

[edit]Article 3 - elections

Article 3 provides for the right to regular, free and fair elections.

· Matthews v. United Kingdom (1999) 28 EHRR 361

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 837