ABSTRACT
The European Convention on Human Rights was conceived after the Second World War as a means of preventing the kind of violation of human rights seen in Germany during and before the war. It has not generally been invoked in relation to large scale violations of rights, but instead has addressed particular deficiencies in the legal systems of the Member States which on the whole create regimes of human rights which are in conformity with the Convention. Drafted in 1949, it was based on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights,1 and partly for that reason, and partly because it was only intended to provide basic protection for human rights, it appears today as quite a cautious document, less far reaching than the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Nevertheless, it has had far more effect on UK law than any other human rights treaty due to its machinery for enforcement which includes a Court with the power to deliver a ruling adverse to the government of a Member State. Thus, the machinery for the enforcement of the Convention is impressive compared to that used in respect of other human rights treaties, particularly the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which, as far as the UK is concerned, has been enforceable only through a system of assessment of national reports.
