What does the European Court of Human Rights deal with other than immigration issues?

While lots of attention has been paid to the ECHR and immigration cases in recent years (like the Rwanda case), they’re actually pretty rare. In the last 10 years, there have been 8 UK cases related to expulsion or extradition (where people are forced to leave the country) and the only judgment against the UK in 2024 was not related to immigration. In fact, the Court has said that immigration is not itself a human right – but people migrating between countries have the same human rights as everyone else. This means they should not be subjected to things like torture, trafficking or unnecessary interference with their family life.

These rights, like all the rights in the Convention are universal, which means the Court has protected them in a wide variety of situations for a wide variety of people. For example, some of the Court’s most famous cases concerning the UK have been about LGBT people’s right to serve in the military; ensuring people can express their religion; supporting the rights of protestors; and upholding disabled people’s right to liberty.

Read more about the European Court of Human Rights's impact on the UK.