EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Spring semester - 3 teaching hours per week

Teacher: Lina Papadopoulou, Associate Professor
Jean Monnet Chair for European Constitutional
Law and Culture

Content:
™ Protection of Fundamental Rights at European level, esp
o through the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and
o the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
™ The relationship between the two systems of protection, as well as their
relationship with the national level.
o Field of application for each system
o Accession of EU to ECHR
o The dialogue between ECHR (Strassburg) and CJEU
(Luxemburg)
™ General principles applying to all systems of protection, esp
proportionality.
™ Towards a multilevel ‘human rights law’ (bloc de constitutionalité)
™ Selected human rights:
o Dignity (is it a right?)
o Right to life
o Non discrimination
o Family and marriage
o Freedom of expression
o Property
o Privacy etc
 Syllabus
1st Week: GENERAL INTRODUCTION IN THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS

2nd Week: HISTORY AND NOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

{Ι}. the notion: The content of the right, distinction from similar notions
(freedom, value and principle).
{ΙΙ}. Historical “trip” of the rights in the European territory (e.g. ancient
Athens, Magna Charta, etc). The increased protection after World War
II.
{ΙΙΙ}. Categorization of the rights: civil, social, political (or according to
others civil – political & social – economic), reference to the “new
generation” rights.
{IV}. Texts and Institutions of Protection: the Member-States especially
through their national courts, the Council of Europe and European
Union with their jurisdictional institutions. Fundamental Texts: the
national Constitutions, the ECHR, the EU Charter of Fundamental
Rights, as well as specific texts such as Oviedo Convention of Human
Rights and Biomedicine.

3rd Week: THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

{I}. its establishment in 1950 within the framework of the Council of
Europe (reference to this regional international organization, distinction
from the EU institutions).
{ΙΙ}. Its basic purpose: the protection primarily of civil rights. An obvious
influence by the national Constitutions, elliptical wording, relation with
them.
{ΙΙΙ}. The high efficiency of this text in comparison to other similar ones:
a). the existence of a Court, b). the whole procedure before it, c). the
individual application, the consequences of the trial for the parties and
the States.

4th Week: LIMITATIONS OF RIGHTS AND MARGIN OF APPRECIATION IN

THE ECHR
{Ι}. The clause of “democratic society“
{ΙΙ}. The public interest (public health, case of emergency, public
health, third people’s rights)
{ΙΙΙ}. The prohibition of abuse of rights
{IV}. the margin of appreciation of the Member-States
{V}. Principle of proportionality

5th Week: THE HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN THE EU

 {Ι}. the blame towards EU for lack of democracy and lack in the
protection of human rights.
{ΙΙ}. The Charter of Fundamental Rights as an answer: its
establishment with Nice Treaty as a non-legally binding text, its
“upgrade” with Lisbon Treaty as primary EU Law.
{ΙΙΙ}. Field of application
{IV}. The principle of the most effective protection

6th Week: DIGNITY AND THE RIGHT TO LIFE [articles 2 & 3 – 4 ECHR,
articles 1,2,3,4 & 5 EU Charter]
{Ι}. The human dignity
a). Prohibition of slavery, of forced labour, of torturing and
generally of inhuman behaviour.
b). the protection of genetic identity and the protection form
biomedical applications.
{ΙΙ}. The absolute protection of life
a). Prohibition of death penalty
b). A right (?) to death
-Students’ essays presentations [see diagram]

7th Week: PRIVATE AND FAMILY LIFE, Part A’: [articles 8 ECHR, articles
7 & 8 EU Charter]
{Ι}. Asylum of residence
{ΙΙ}. Personal Data and confidentiality (cameras, internet – social
networking, health data, confidentiality of communication)
-Presentation by Spaniard Colleague, Ms ………… : “interplay between ECJ
and ECHR in some interesting decisions in which the right to a private life
(article 8 of ECHR) has been interpretated by the ECHR in relation with the
application of EU Council Regulations by national courts”
-Students’ essays presentations [see diagram]

8th Week: EQUITY AND PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION [article 14

ECHR, articles 21 – 25 EU Charter]
{Ι}. Equity before the law and prohibition of discrimination based on
national, religious, political, social or other characteristics
{ΙΙ}. Equity of men and women
Career opportunities, remuneration, quotas
{ΙΙΙ}. Rights of children and elderly
-Students’ essays presentations [see diagram]

9th Week: PRIVATE AND FAMILY LIFE, Part B’: [articles 8§1 & 12 ECHR,
articles 9 & 33 (secondarily) EU Charter]
 {Ι}. Right to marriage and to partnership (kinds of partnership,
partnership pacts, homosexual couples, etc)
{ΙΙ}. Reproductive Rights (single-parent families, use of medically
supported reproduction)
-Students’ essays presentations [see diagram]

10th Week: FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE & EXPRESSION & RELIGIOUS

FREEDOM [articles 9 & 10 ECHR, articles 10 & 11 EU Charter]
{Ι}. Right of conscience, right to manifest one’s thoughts, to receive
information, criticism, defamation specially of public people, freedom of
press and prohibition of censorship
{ΙΙ}. Religious freedom: religious conscience and worship (religious
education, religious symbols at schools, conscientious objection)
-Students’ essays presentations [see diagram]
- Presentation by Italian Colleague, Mr Simone Vezzani, “The EU accession
to the ECHR”

11th Week: POLITICAL RIGHTS TO VOTE AND ELIGIBILITY [article 3 of

the 1st Ad. Protocol ECHR & articles 39-40 EU Charter]
{Ι}. the notion and the content of these rights
{ΙΙ}. The necessary characteristics of each ballot (free-unadulterated,
direct, total, secret)
{ΙΙΙ}. The vote and eligibility of EU citizens to the local authorities’
elections
{IV}. The vote and eligibility of EU citizens to the European Parliament
elections (the importance especially after Lisbon Treaty and the
upgraded role of the Parliament in the EU law-making procedure)
-Students’ presentation about their national electoral systems mainly
for the European Parliament elections

12th Week: POLITICAL RIGHTS PART II

-Students’ presentation about their national electoral systems mainly
for the European Parliament elections
- Students’ essays presentations [see diagram]

13th Week: RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL [article 6 ECHR, articles 47, 48, 49,
50 EU Charter]
{Ι}. The establishment of legal proceedings (remedies)
{ΙΙ}. The reasonable duration of the trial
{ΙΙΙ}. Equity between the parties of a trial (especially in view of the
procedural privileges of the government)
 {IV}. Defendant’s presumption of innocence
{V}. Right to legal assistance by an advocate, right to understanding
the language of the procedure and the case documents
-Students’ essays presentations