The European Court of Human Rights is not an ‘EU court’

Following a ruling earlier this week by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Switzerland had “failed to comply with its duties […] concerning climate change” under the European Convention on Human Rights, we’ve seen some Facebook posts describing the decision as a ruling by an “EU” court.

This isn’t accurate. The European Court of Human Rights is an entirely separate institution from the European Union, and besides, Switzerland is not a member of the EU.

The ECHR is part of the Council of Europe—an international organisation focusing on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, headquartered in Strasbourg, France. It oversees the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights (also often abbreviated as the ECHR), signatories to which agree to abide by the rulings of the court.

46 countries are members of the Council of Europe, including all 27 members of the EU, as well as a number of non-EU members, including the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey and others. All Council of Europe members are signatories to the Convention.

The EU, meanwhile, has its own court system, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which is based in Luxembourg. The CJEU interprets EU law to ensure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries.

While the ECHR and CJEU are different institutions and operate in different legal systems, the UK in a Changing Europe think tank says that the two systems are somewhat “intertwined”, in that the European Convention on Human Rights lies behind some of the principles of EU law. 

We’ve written a number of articles over the years explaining the difference between the ECHR and the EU.

Image courtesy of Adrian Grycuk