Today, the Council of Europe is marking the 70th anniversary of the European Convention of Human Rights, opened for signature in Rome on November 4, 1950. It is one of the most important and effective international treaties ensuring protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. The Convention established the European Court of Human Rights which is currently the effective mechanism to ensure that all member States comply with their obligations under the Convention.
The Convention in its Preamble stipulates that fundamental human rights and freedoms are best maintained by “an effective political democracy”. The European Court of Human Rights while deciding the case Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v. Belgium stated that “since it enshrines a characteristic principle of democracy, Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 is accordingly of prime importance in the Convention system”. Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 guarantees “[…]the right to free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people[…]”.
The Convention and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on electoral matters became an undisputed legal instrument in Ukraine which influenced a lot its constitutional law, as well as national electoral legislation and the national court practice. Due to the support provided by the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”, respective Guide on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 became also available in Ukrainian. In addition to that, more than 220 national court decisions on electoral matters were analysed in context of the European electoral standards and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, and more than 200 national judges from 22 oblasts of Ukraine enhanced their knowledge and skills on electoral dispute resolution in light of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine” will further provide its expert and technical assistance to Ukrainian national authorities and civil society organisations in order to bring the Ukrainian electoral legislation and practice in line with the Council of Europe electoral acquis, including the European Court of Human Rights case law on electoral matters.
