Campaign briefing: Democracy and the European constitution

Protecting human rights

The protection of human rights throughout Europe rests in the European Convention of Human Rights, to which all member states of the EU are signatories. Only states with international legal personality may be signatories to this convention, so it does not apply to the acts of the European Union. This has often been seen as an anomaly.

Read this article as a pdf.

The Nice Treaty included a Charter of Fundamental Rights but, because of opposition from some member states at the time, it was not formally incorporated into the treaties. The European constitution changes this, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights as an integral part of its provisions (II). It will apply only to decisions of the Union and not to decisions of the member states.

The EU will also acquire international legal personality and so will be able to become a signatory to the ECHR in its own right (I-7(2)).

Both of these steps will increase the rights of citizens and protect them against the unfair or arbitrary use of executive power.

Start | Previous | Next