{"id":2288,"date":"2018-02-14T14:42:15","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T14:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rcstaging.co.uk\/ehrac\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2021-05-21T19:13:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T18:13:06","slug":"ngos-draft-copenhagen-declaration-risks-undermining-the-independence-and-authority-of-the-european-court-and-the-universality-of-human-rights","status":"publish","type":[72],"link":"http:\/\/ehrac.org.uk\/en_gb\/ngos-draft-copenhagen-declaration-risks-undermining-the-independence-and-authority-of-the-european-court-and-the-universality-of-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"NGOs: Draft Copenhagen Declaration risks undermining the independence and authority of the European Court, and the universality of human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t
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EHRAC and a consortium of 7 other NGOs have issued a statement expressing serious concerns<\/a>\u00a0about the current wording of the\u00a0draft Copenhagen Declaration<\/a>\u00a0on the future of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) system. The NGOs argue that the\u00a0draft Declaration, presented by the Danish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 5 February 2018<\/a>, is at risk of undermining the authority of the European Court of Human Rights, and at worst could lead to the fragmentation of the European human rights protection system.<\/p>\n

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The declaration will be finalised at an inter-state conference to be held in Copenhagen in April.<\/p>\n

Professor Philip Leach, EHRAC Director also said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhilst apparently professing respect for the Court, the basic tenor of the draft Declaration is actually to undermine its independence and authority in a fundamental way.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most retrogressive and alarming proposals is to suggest that the Court should no longer deal with cases arising from international conflict. This would mean, for example, no possibility of redress for victims of human rights violations in eastern Ukraine or Crimea, or those displaced by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, nor would it allow the Court to continue to scrutinise the actions of states like the UK and the Netherlands in theatres of war such as the Iraq conflict.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe draft Declaration should be scrapped\u00a0 \u2013 instead of trying to \u2018warn off\u2019 the Court, it needs to be re-written so as to focus on concrete ways in which the European Convention on Human Rights can be better implemented in practice in each of the 47 Council of Europe states.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Professor Philip Leach, EHRAC Director<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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All eight NGOs have been heavily involved with the process of reforming the Court, including at the recent\u00a0high-level conference in Kokkedal, where we expressed our concern over the proposed approach of the Danish Chairmanship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These are some of the main points which the NGOs believe should be reflected in the Declaration:<\/p>\n