ABSTRACT
Only those who are ‘victims’ of an alleged violation are protected by the ECHR machinery (Art 34). Likewise only ‘victims’ can bring proceedings under or rely on Convention rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 (s 7(1). The term ‘victim’ is not defined. As a general rule victims are those who are ‘directly affected’ by acts or omissions of public bodies. This phrase extends to those who are at risk of being affected by such actions or omissions as well as those who are indirectly affected by violations of the rights of others (for example, McCann v UK (1995) 21 EHRR 97 where relatives of three IRA suspects killed by members of the SAS in Gibralter brought claims under Art 2 (right to life)) . However, residents of Tahiti were unable to claim that nuclear testing by France violated Arts 2, 3, 8 and 14 of the Convention. The Commission held that the applicants had not established that they were victims because they lived over 1000 km from the test site and had not produced sufficient evidence to show that future tests would affect them personally.
