What is the European Convention on Human Rights?

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is an international treaty launched by the Council of Europe in 1950 to help protect people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Council of Europe is not part of the European Union (EU). It is a separate international organisation, created in 1949, which promotes human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

What does EU accession to the Convention mean?

All 46 Council of Europe member states, including the 27 EU countries, are already bound by the Convention. However, the EU itself is not. This means that the actions of the EU’s institutions, agencies and other bodies cannot currently be challenged at the European Court of Human Rights.  

Individuals can bring complaints to the Strasbourg court concerning actions taken by EU member states when implementing EU law. However, the EU itself cannot be involved in those proceedings.

The EU’s accession to the Convention will make it possible for the EU to respond to complaints of human rights violations – and to take part in supervising the implementation of the Strasbourg court’s judgments – alongside its member states.

Essentially, accession means that the EU will be subject to the same international rules and oversight on human rights as its 27 member states and the 19 other Council of Europe members.

Why is EU accession important?

The EU’s accession to the Convention will make it possible for individuals to take complaints against the EU to an independent international court – the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Under the terms of the Convention, the EU will have to put right any human rights violations found by the Strasbourg court.

This will help to create a “level playing field” on human rights across the continent. It will also help to make sure that rulings on human rights from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg are legally consistent.

What has happened so far?

The Lisbon Treaty of 2009 included a legal commitment that the EU would accede to the Convention.

Extensive negotiations took place between the Council of Europe member states and the European Commission, on behalf of the EU, between 2010 and 2013. However, in December 2014, the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) concluded that the resulting agreement was not compatible with EU law.

In October 2019, the European Commission told the Council of Europe it was ready to restart negotiations. Formal negotiations resumed in October 2020, and the negotiators reached a provisional agreement on a revised draft accession agreement in March 2023.

The revised agreement covers all of the issues raised by the CJEU except one, concerning jurisdiction over EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The EU has committed to resolving this issue internally.