The Prohibition of Racial Discrimination in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights The subject of this thesis is the prohibition of racial discrimination on a regional scale, which is discussed in relation to the European Court of Human Rights and its case law. The aim of this work is to present the prohibition of racial discrimination, as embodied in the most important international legal documents from the beginning of the twentieth century with a special focus on the rules contained in the legal documents of the Council of Europe, and the protection granted by the European Court of Human Rights. Race and ethnicity is seen mainly in terms of the Roma ethnicity, which is obviously not the only one who is in Europe facing the racial discrimination. Given the scope of the thesis it is not possible to address more groups belonging to the above mentioned category. The subject matter is elaborated by methods such as compilation, comparison and partially also analysis. The introductory chapter of the thesis contains general interpretation of equality and non-discrimination with explanations of important terms and concepts. The next chapter provides an overview of the prohibition of racial discrimination in human rights documents of the key international organizations. Closer attention in this...

Title: The right to life guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Author: Simona Divoká Department: Department of international law Supervisor: prof. JUDr. Pavel Šturma, DrSc. Abstract: The thesis is mainly focused on the interpretation of the article 2 of the Convention which guarantees one of the most important human rights, the right to life. In the first part of the thesis I deal with the European Convention on Human Rights, especially its aplication to be clear when the violation of the Convention is possible. Then I concentrate on the functioning of European Court of Human Rights which was constituted for the purpose to execute the control of compliance with rights and liberties guaranteed by the Convention and Additional Protocols to the Convention which contracting states obligate to fulfill. Then I handle the interpretation of the article 2 of the Convention and I try to describe with the help of judicature of the Court which obligations must be fulfilled by the contracting states and how the contracting states must behave to comply with the Convention. Substantive and procedural obligations give rise to contracting states. These obligations can be divided into positive and negative obligations. I continuously describe these...

Absente de la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme, mais prévue par le règlement de la Cour, la révision des arrêts de celle-ci apparaît comme une procédure exceptionnelle qui, à première vue, ne soulève pas de problèmes particuliers. S’agissant pourtant d’une procédure qui existe dans un système institué en vue de la protection des droits de l’homme, il faut déterminer quel est le rôle que la révision peut jouer dans un tel système. A cet égard, l’examen des arrêts adoptés par la Cour à la suite des demandes en révision qui lui ont été présentées relève que la disposition régissant la révision est de nature à susciter une réflexion approfondie et ce, bien que le nombre des arrêts prononcés dans ce domaine ne soit pas impressionnant. En effet, les questions soulevées dans les procédures en révision impliquent une lecture minutieuse de ladite disposition, dont la richesse ne doit pas être sous-estimée. / Not included in the European Convention on Human Rights, but provided for by the Rules of Court, the revision of its judgments appears as an exceptional procedure that, at first glance, does not raise particular issues. However, being amongst the procedures belonging to the human rights protection system, it must be determined what role revision may play in such a system. In this respect, the examination of the judgments delivered by the Court following the requests for revision submitted to it points out that the provision governing revision is likely to give rise to a thorough reflection, even though the number of judgments in this area is not impressive. Indeed, the issues raised in the procedures for revision involve a careful reading of the before-mentioned provision, whose potential should not be underestimated.

Almost four decades have passed since the European Court of Human Rights introduced the concept of positive obligations. Positive obligations mean that the member states must take affirmative action in order to secure the rights and freedoms provided for by the European Convention on Human Rights. Since then, the scope of positive obligations has extended tremendously, and today all substantive rights generally contain positive obligations. The reason behind the development is to maintain the full effectiveness of human rights enforcement within the European context, and it has been enabled, inter alia, through dynamic interpretation and because the European Convention on Human Rights is considered a living instrument.  The fact that European companies operating transnationally, i.e. in a non-European context, sometimes through its commercial activities violates human rights has given rise to discussion in legal doctrine on whether the scope of positive obligations should be further extended so that the member states to the European Convention on Human Rights will incur state responsibility for national corporates’ extraterritorial human rights violations. Thus, the purpose of the thesis is to examine whether the European Court of Human Rights can and should proceed with such expansion. An expansion creates methodological and technical problems as it challenges the traditional notion of jurisdiction, however, it is not impossible. Whatever the European Court of Human Rights will decide to do, the thesis will provide arguments both for why home state responsibility for national corporates’ extraterritorial activities that violates human rights can and should be imposed, as well for why it is beyond its (the European Court of Human Rights) competence.

The thesis seeks to answer the question whether the European Union (EU) constitutional treaty offers improved protection for human rights in the EU jurisdiction. Within this context, it first seeks to find out what the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the constitutional treaty promises for the human rights&rsquo / field. Furthermore, it examines how the possible accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights will affect this field. Then, it focuses on what the constitutional treaty offers for third countries concerning human rights. Finally, in the light of the recent developments on the treaty, the discussion enlightens the role of the constitutional treaty on protecting and developing human rights in the EU.

The government of Sweden encourage the development of electricity produced from renewable sources by maintaining an electricity certificates system in which producers that use renewable sources in their production are given certificates. The system is regulated in the Swedish Electricity Certificates Act (lag (2003:113) om elcertifikat). To prevent fraudulent behaviour a penalty fee is charged upon producers that have recieved certificates due to incorrect or misleading information. The penalty fee can be appealed to a court but under the Electricity Certificates Act it is not allowed to reduce or adjust. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse if the penalty fee in the Electricity Certificates Act meets the requirements of legal certainty in article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) including right to a fair trial and to be seen as innocence until proven guilty. The method used is analysing applicable sources in accordance with the Swedish legal hierarchy in which laws have the highest value. The Convention is incorporated into Swedish law and has the same legal value as such. Judgments from the European Court of Human Rights on the Swedish tax surcharge are used for guidance on how to interpret article 6 in the Convention. Two cases from Swedish courts concerning the penalty fee are used to find what problems the penalty fee encounters in a legal process. The rules on the penalty fee does not allow adjustments of it and circumstances in each case cannot be taken into consideration, therefore the penalty fee can be charged even when it would be unreasonable and there is a conflict with legal certainty in article 6 of the Convention. For that matter rules on evidentiary issues also has to be implemented. Courts can refuse to use rules which are in conflict with the Convention, but it is concluded that a change in regulation is needed.

The thesis contain analysis of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in cases related to conflicts caused by information disseminated in media. Analysis is presented by the main criteria used by the European Court of Human Rights while giving judgments in cases related to the restraints of the freedom od media.The contents of the freedom of media, as one of the parts of the freedom of expression protected by the European Convention of Human Rights, is specified on the basis of numerous examples of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

This thesis examines how American and German constitutionalism, as shaped by the U.S. Supreme Court and the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), have mediated the tension between threats to stability and the imperative of renewal through occasional or constant interventions in their democratic processes. To do this, it primarily assesses the 1960s U.S. reapportionment cases and the European Parliament electoral threshold cases of 2011 and 2014. It also considers the ideas of four thinkers, theorists and jurists who have wrestled with the dilemma of how to maintain the bond between citizen and state: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Hannah Arendt, Thomas Jefferson and Alexis de Tocqueville. Stability and renewal represent the twin orientation points for constitutionalism and the courts against which they must adjust to possible democratic threats, or new political and social forces in need of recognition. Threats to the state can emerge either from a surfeit of illiberal views in politics and society aimed at destroying an existing constitutional order, or when democratic channels become starved of new opinions through the constitutional or unconstitutional exclusion of voters and parties. A distinctive feature of the approach taken is the conceptual division between the ‘legal/institutional' space in which the Supreme Court and Bundesverfassungsgericht interpret constitutional meaning, and the ‘civic space' in which citizens accept or reject constitutional meaning. One central question is how American and German constitutionalism, and the U.S. Supreme Court and Bundesverfassungsgericht shape and influence the vital civic space that is integral to the democratic relationship between citizen and state, and the survival of the state itself. Ultimately it is concluded that without acceptance of the importance of law and constitutionalism by citizens in the civic space, the influence of the Supreme Court and the Bundesverfassungsgericht becomes purely institutional and effectively consigned to the courtroom.

The interpretation of religious feeedom in European and international decision - making practice This diploma thesis focuses on the system of protection of religious freedoms in European and international legislation and explores its interpretation in the decision-making practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In recent years, the protection of religious minorities has become a topical issue, giving rise to numerous international judicial decisions. The core of the thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of some of these decisions. The aim of the thesis is to examine the importance international judicial bodies attribute to the protection of religious freedoms in relation to the system of the protection of fundamental human rights. It also discusses conditions and situations in which the exercise of these fundamental rights can be limited without encroaching upon fundamental freedoms of an individual. The introduction provides a definition of the term religion and describes its interpretation in specialized literature. The second chapter looks at the historical development of the protection of religious freedoms, its individual components and the modern concept of religious freedom laid down by international treaties/conventions on human rights...

This thesis bearing the name "The European Convention on Human Rights, Article 8" has the objective to define the right to respect for private and family life through the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The work is concentrating on the topic of registered partnership, especially upon the question of whether a homosexual pair can be recognized as a family in the sense of Article 8 of European Convention on Human Rights. Further issues discussed are the question of children and their biological parents, whether a child has a right to know his biological parents, and the problem of implementation of Article 8 in the Czech Republic focusing on the question of problems in implementation of the right to respect for private life and for family life. The first two chapters are aimed at defining the pertinent terms and outlining the historical development of this area of law. Main part of the work are the last two chapters, which are concentrating on the above mentioned issues through the interpretation of selected relevant jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. This interpretation of the jurisprudence has resulted in answers on the set questions, with respect to the fact that it is a current interpretation of the Convention by the Court. The main finding is the necessity to realize that the Convention as a living instrument will keep developing according to the development of society, which leads to the results and answers being pertinent only at the time of writing of this work, with the future development being possibly different from current results.