The Case Law of the ECtHR in 2020 in the Light of the Principle of Systemic Harmonisation

Summary

ABSTRACT

This contribution provides an overview of relevant developments in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) in 2020. Priority will be given to Grand Chamber (GC) judgments and decisions and those of the chambers deemed to be highly relevant from a substantial and procedural viewpoint. Given that in 2020 the Council of Europe's Steering Committee for Human Rights published its report on ‘The Place of the European Convention of Human Rights in the International and European Legal Order’, the case law will be selected and examined from the viewpoint of the principle of systemic harmonisation. The aim is highlighting positive and negative examples of application of general international law by the ECtHR, of cross-fertilisation between the ECtHR and other international courts and tribunals, as well as of interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the light of international human rights instruments.

INTRODUCTION

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has been a challenging year for the protection of human rights in Europe and worldwide. Indeed, some Member States of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, or the Convention) notified derogations pursuant to Article 15 ECHR to the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe (CoE). In any case, it has been pointed out that in the protection of human rights, a ‘normal-as-usual’ approach should be adopted even in times of a pandemic, given that ‘the extraordinary nature of states of emergencies cannot and should not prevent human rights from performing their normal role in society’.

Moreover, the measures that have been adopted in order to contain the spread of the virus – namely, strict lockdowns – also affected the capacity of national and international justice systems to function, therefore affecting the capacity of victims of (past) human rights violations to obtain justice and reparation. However, except for a temporary suspension of procedural time limits, during the pandemic the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) continued to handle its caseloads as usual. And indeed, throughout the year the Court issued a significant number of interesting judgments and decisions.