Tag Archives: ECHR
20 December 2014
On 18 December 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘ECJ’) delivered a negative opinion on the draft agreement on the accession of the European Union (‘EU’) to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (‘ECHR’). Insisting that ‘accession must take into account the particular characteristics of the EU’, it stated that EU’s accession to the ECHR under the provisions of the current draft agreement would undermine the autonomy and primacy of EU law. (more…)
Source: Court of Justice of the European Union - Press Release No 180/14
4 August 2014
On 24 July 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that Poland violated its obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) by cooperating with the United States in the running of so-called “CIA black sites” on Polish territory. (more…)
Source: Al Nashiri v. Poland | App. No. 28761/11 | Judgment | ECtHR | 24 July 2014
2014
Often in the discussion of the allocation of international responsibility between an international organization and its Member States for unlawful acts pride of place is given to the allocation of powers or competences between the organization and its Member States. … Read more
3 November 2013
In this blogpost I reflect, from a shared responsibility perspective, on two issues arising under the draft EU-ECHR Accession Agreement: (1) the question of to whom EU member states’ acts implementing EU law are attributed, and why; (2) the intervening role reserved for the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in proceedings brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The relevant provisions in the draft Accession Agreement are Art. 1(3), respectively Art. 3(6).
1. Issues of attribution
The draft Accession Agreement makes it clear that the attribution of responsibility may be a function of the relevant primary norms of international law, and their scope (the ECHR norms in the case) rather than of secondary rules that are applicable across-the-board. Questions of shared/exclusive responsibility are then conceived of differently with respect to the ECHR than, say, the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the former case, acts of EU member states implementing EU law are attributed to the member state rather than to the EU, whereas in the latter, such acts are attributed to the EU, the member states being mere agents or organs. (more…)
28 October 2013
ICC, © http://www.denhaag.nl/
In October 2012 and January of this year the SHARES blog posted about the situation of Congolese witnesses detained at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Their detention continues, and while the resolution of their legal status is one step closer, it is also as illusive as ever, due to a decision of the Amsterdam District Court.
A detailed background to the situation can be found here, but can be briefly summarised as follows. Four individuals, detained in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on charges relating to the on going armed conflict in the country, were transferred to the ICC detention unit in May 2011 in order to give evidence as witnesses. (more…)
