What is the European Convention on Human Rights?

The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) is an international agreement agreed to by 46 countries (including the UK), known as Member States. By signing the Convention, Member States promise to protect the specific human rights listed within it.

Member States also agree that individuals, groups or other Member States can bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) if a Member State breaches rights. Member States agree to follow the judgments made by the Court. The ECtHR is made up of 46 judges – one from each Member State (but the judges do not represent their states, they are independent). The current President of the Court is Mattias Guyomar from France.

This system is designed to ensure governments are held accountable and countries work together to protect universal human rights.