European Human Rights Law and Estonia: One- or Two-way Street?

Activists in international courts: Backlash, funding, and strategy in international legal mobilization

The article explores the main problems of the application by the national courts of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of law. Analyzing the rules of the law and examining the views of the Supreme Court have highlighted the problematic issues of the obligation to apply the case law of the European Court of Human Rights to national courts as a source of law. The researchers' positions on the obligation of national courts to apply the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in cases against other states are examined and the importance of the application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is highlighted. Analyzing the views of scholars and experts, we have proposed ways to address the issues of the binding application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights by reviewing the plenary sessions of high courts. The problems of the application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights by national courts, such as the selective application of the case law of the Court, references to general principles and interpretations, ignoring the conditions of their application, absolutization of the binding position of the Court, application of the decisions of the Court by analogy, reference to the practice Court in the presence of clear and consistent provisions of national law, etc. The following ways of solving these problems are proposed: 1) revising the concept and content of the Law of Ukraine "On the implementation of decisions and application of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights" and amending the legislation in order to bring it in line with the provisions of the new procedural legislation and modern ideas of theorists and practitioners about the legal nature of decisions The European Court of Human Rights; 2) preparing a resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court on the application of the Convention and the case-law of the Court, which should be based on a thorough analysis of the shortcomings and peculiarities of the case-law of the national courts. The problematic issues of the application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the absence of official translations of the Court's decisions are examined. Analyzing the views of scholars and experts, we have proposed ways to solve these problems by creating a single electronic database that will contain official translations of Court decisions in the Ukrainian language that will ensure their accessibility and dissemination.

This chapter analyses the legal protection available to vulnerable groups and their members under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and in particular the vulnerability paradigm of the European Court of Human Rights. It traces the development of the concept of ‘vulnerable groups’ and its use in the case law of the Court and identifies the main groups of persons systematically considered by the Court as vulnerable.When discussing the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, two groups of cases are covered. First, the chapter identifies key cases with respect to specific vulnerable groups, and secondly the most recent cases are analysed to reveal the latest trends. For this purpose, to establish how often ‘vulnerable groups’ appear on the agenda of the European Court of Human Rights, case law research was performed. The time frame chosen was the last five years starting from 1 January 2016 and ending 31 December 2020. After identification of all the cases, 37 most relevant cases were chosen and scrutinised in more detail. In this way, the chapter seeks to offer the reader a contextual analysis of the notion of vulnerable groups in European human rights law and sets out the framework for further chapters of the book.KeywordsVulnerable groupsVulnerabilityConcept of ‘vulnerable groups’Vulnerable groups in the European Court of Human Rights case lawVulnerability in ECHR

The article examines some aspects of realization of the rule of law principle in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The author notes that the principle of the rule of law is a fundamental component of international legal acts regulating human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is emphasized that the Constitution of Ukraine proclaims that the principle of the rule of law is recognized and operates in Ukraine, but the concept of the rule of law itself is not fully disclosed in national legislation. The principle of the rule of law is actually the only effective means of ensuring the inviolability of democracy. The separate elements of this principle as its integral parts and mandatory prerequisites through which the European Court of Human Rights reveals the content of the rule of law was considered. The author provides examples of grouping certain requirements of the rule of law in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The author notes that there are no unified approaches to understanding the exact meaning of the rule of law principle either in theory or in practice. The author substantiates that the elements of the rule of law in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights are legality, legal certainty, fairness of a trial and priority of human rights. The main element of the rule of law in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is legality. The requirement of legality has formal (procedural) and substantive aspects (requirements for the quality of the law). It is noted that the requirement to respect human rights and recognize their priority is key in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Cases of human rights restrictions must comply with the principle of proportionality. The provisions of the documents of the Venice Commission on the understanding of principle of the rule are analyzed, the activity of the European Court of Human Rights in ensuring the principle of the rule of law in the process of protection of human rights and freedoms is studied. The author concludes that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is the basis for understanding the essence of the rule of law as a principle. The author emphasizes that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights has a positive impact on the indicators of strengthening the rule of law in the state, and contributes to the improvement of each individual element of this principle and all of them in aggregate.

The article deals with the ways of regarding the case law of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of criminal procedural law of Ukraine, which is relevant both in terms of the criminal procedure as a science and for the practice of law enforcement. The purpose of the article is to formulate the concept of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of criminal procedural law of Ukraine. The paper justifies the opinion that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is developed and based on the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights, regardless of the country in which they were adopted (i. e. has a polyterritorial jurisdiction over states being the participants of the Convention). The article proves that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is draws upon the decisions made by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights regardless of the time of adoption, i. e. it includes the decisions adopted before Ukraine ratified the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The author points out the appropriateness of classifying decisions that have acquired the status of final as «case law of the European Court of Human Rights». It is also mentioned that there is a need to include final decisions in the case (as the matter of fact), which have a decisive nature and contain a legal position in this case, into the scope of the category «case law of the European Court of Human Rights». Moreover, the article substantiates the necessity to include the decisions adopted by the European Court of Human Rights in full, i. e. not only the set forth legal positions, into the category of «case law of the European Court of Human Rights». Following the results of the study, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of criminal procedural law of Ukraine is defined as a set of decisions adopted by the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights, which have entered into force and contain legal policies which either clarify or specify the provisions of the Convention as for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and relate to human and citizen’s rights and freedoms.

The article is devoted to the study of such sources of electoral law in Ukraine as the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the first Protocol to the Convention and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. The legal nature of these international sources of suffrage in Ukraine is considered. Attention is drawn to the peculiarities of the wording of the right to free election in Article 3 the first Protocol to the Convention. The peculiarities of the application of the above article by the European Court of Human Rights are disclosed. The importance the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of suffrage in Ukraine is emphasized. This assertion is justified by the fact that the rules of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols are of a general and abstract nature and are interpreted and filled with real meaning in judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, which are of precedent nature. A number of legal positions of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the obligation of the state to organize and hold democratic elections, enshrined in the specific decisions of this international judicial institution, have been analyzed. In the article were covered such legal positions as: the possibility of limiting the suffrage of citizens, provided that such conditions do not interfere with the free expression of the people's opinion on the election of the legislative body; evaluation of the electoral legislation in the light of the political development of the country, taking into account national characteristics; wide discretion of the state in the choice of the electoral system, which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people, etc. There are a number of unresolved issues regarding the application of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in judicial and administrative practice in Ukraine, one of which is the possible conflict between the case-law of the Court and the rules of Ukrainian law. It is proposed to resolve this conflict at the legislative level. The conclusions focus on the peculiarities of the legal nature of these sources of suffrage in Ukraine. KEY WORDS: sources of suffrage, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, right to free elections.

The article presents a legal analysis of the peculiarities of using the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of law in Ukraine as one of the elements of the Anglo-Saxon law. The scientific article aims to determine the legal grounds for applying the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of law and, further, to identify exceptional cases of such application which are not directly disclosed by Ukrainian law. In particular, the regulation of the application of the European Court of Human Rights decisions, which were adopted before the ratification of the Convention by Ukraine, as a source of law at this stage. In the context of this issue, extending the principle of retroactive effect of the law to the European Court of Human Rights was also considered. The scientific article also aims to analyse specific issues and law situations in applying the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The author analysed other case laws in Ukraine, including case laws of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. The focus is on issues not regulated by the current legislation of Ukraine and the application or “twice application” of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the context of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (with protocols) of 04.11.1950 or separately. The author also draws attention to two essential features in the application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights – the issue of determining the priority of this case over the case law of the national courts of Ukraine and the use of the European Court of Human Rights by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Attention is also paid to the provisions of the constitutional procedure of Ukraine. The scientific article is not limited to analysing exclusively normative material enshrined in the current legislation. However, to increase the relevance of this article, the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine are also considered. In particular, the author emphasises the peculiarities and possibilities of applying the European Court of Human Rights case law in disputes related to other states in the national law of Ukraine.

The scientific article examines the activities of the European Court of Human Rights and identifies the significance of the relevant case law of the European Court for the case law of Ukraine. It is noted, that one of the issues, studied within the topic, is the sources and legal framework, which is especially relevant in the adoption of the Law of Ukraine «On Enforcement of Decisions and Application of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights», according to which courts use the Agreement and case law as a legal source in cases. The activity of the European Court of Human Rights, the role and impact on the judicial system of Ukraine are analyzed, the relevant examples are given. It is concluded, that the implementation of international human rights law into Ukrainian law is a complex procedure that requires special doctrinal consideration, as today Ukrainian citizens are among the most active complainants to the European Court of Human Rights, which indicates a fairly high insecurity by national legal mechanisms. In order to increase the credibility of the judiciary, courts should take into account the European experience, decisions and observations of the Court in their work. The Court's case law is said to play an important role in the judicial reform process as it approaches the European legal framework for human rights standards in Europe. The current law cannot fully protect a person or build justice if it is not applied properly. Based on existing ECtHR rulings, judges can accurately understand the rule of law and apply it properly, which will help improve human rights, accurate understanding and implementation of the Agreement on Ukraine. Based on the study, it was concluded, that it is necessary and appropriate to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, as in this way it is possible to ensure the protection and defense of human and civil rights and freedoms

The article is dedicated to a comprehensive analysis of the legal nature of the human right to a fair trial, the study of mechanisms for its normative and legal enforcement, and the effectiveness of its implementation through the lens of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. Particular attention is paid to the systematic interpretation of this right in the context of international human rights standards and its correlation with the national legal systems of the states – parties to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The article conducts a doctrinal study of the right to a fair trial, defines its place in the hierarchy of fundamental human rights, and substantiates its absolute nature in the context of the modern concept of human rights. This right is one of the key elements of the rule of law, guaranteeing access to effective judicial protection and ensuring a balance between public and private interests in a legal state. Significant attention is given to analyzing the role of the judiciary as the primary guarantor of the realization of this right, while judicial protection is considered not only as an instrument for restoring violated rights but also as a structural element of the justice mechanism, which determines the democratic principles of the functioning of the state apparatus. The judicial system is obliged to ensure compliance with a set of procedural guarantees that prevent arbitrary restrictions on a person’s rights to access justice and to have their case reviewed objectively. The study identifies the main structural components of the right to a fair trial, including:the right to have a case heard by an independent, impartial, and competent court; the right to equality of arms and adversarial proceedings; the right to legal certainty in judicial decision-making; the right to the openness and publicity of the judicial process; the right to have a case considered within a reasonable time, as an essential element of effective justice. It is noted that access to justice is a prerequisite for the realization of the right to a fair trial. Access to justice is proposed to be understood as a real opportunity, guaranteed by the state and ensured by effective legal mechanisms, for a person to appeal to the court to protect their rights, freedoms, or legitimate interests. It is argued that the primary task of the European Court of Human Rights in every case is to assess the overall fairness of the proceedings. Compliance with the requirements of a fair trial should be considered in each case, taking into account the development of the entire proceedings, rather than based on the isolated examination of one specific aspect or a particular instance. The article also examines the issue of contradictions between national judicial systems and the standards of the European Court of Human Rights, which sometimes necessitate the revision of legal norms at the level of domestic legislation. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights demonstrates that a number of states face difficulties in implementing the Court’s decisions, which negatively affects public trust in the judiciary. It is important to emphasize that the institutional capacity of national judicial systems must correspond to European standards of justice, ensuring that citizens have a real opportunity for effective protection of their rights. Failure to meet such standards can lead to systemic problems in the field of justice and an increased number of appeals to the European Court of Human Rights. In the context of international law, the need for harmonization of national legislation with the requirements of the Convention is emphasized, which would contribute to increasing the effectiveness of the realization of the right to a fair trial. This issue is particularly relevant for countries undergoing judicial system reforms and striving to strengthen its independence. The conclusions of the article emphasize that the human rights protection role of the European Court of Human Rights is a key factor in ensuring legal certainty in judicial practice. The enforcement of its decisions is mandatory for the member states of the Convention, and their disregard may have negative consequences for a country’s international legal reputation. Keywords: effectiveness, legal mechanisms, European court of human rights, fair trial, justice, judicial practice, convention, human rights, access to justice, judiciary, judicial independence, impartiality, equality of arms, adversarial proceedings, legal certainty.

У статті розглядається безсторонність (неупередженість) суду як невід'ємний елемент та міра реалізації завдань справедливого суду. Зауважується, що одним із чинників, що позитивно впливає на формування громадської думки щодо судової влади та суддів безумовно, є безсторонність (неупередженість) суддів. Адже безсторонній розгляд і вирішення судових справ - один із головних обов'язків кожного судді, а також складова частина присяги судді, порушенням якої визнається, зокрема, вчинення суддею дій, що можуть викликати сумнів у його неупередженості та підірвати довіру до судової влади в цілому з боку громадськості. Статтю присвячено дослідженню сутності безсторонності суддів та визначенню її основних критеріїв з огляду на міжнародні норми, норми національного законодавства, а також практику Європейського Суду з прав людини. Зазначається, що в Європейському Суді з прав людини напрацьована багаторічна практика щодо з'ясування того, чи був національний суд, розглядаючи конкретну справу, безсторонннім у розумінні п. 1 ст. 6 Конвенції про захист прав людини та основоположних свобод. Так, п. 1 ст. 6 Конвенції вимагає, щоб «суд», що підпадає під його дію, був неупередженим. Як правило, неупередженість означає відсутність упереджень або упередженості, при цьому її наявність або відсутність можуть бути перевірені різними способами. Отже, сенс і прояви безсторонності прийнято виводити з оцінок правового поняття «упередженість», яке має окремі усталені практикою Європейського Суду критерії, пов'язані з наданням переваг одній зі сторін спору. Саме на констатації фактів упередженості і на цій основі визнання порушень правил Конвенції про справедливий суд побудована прецедентна практика Європейського Суду. Крім того, відповідно до усталеної практики Європейського Суду з прав людини наявність безсторонності відповідно до п. 1 ст. 6 Конвенції про захист прав людини та основоположних свобод повинна визначатися за об'єктивним та суб'єктивним критеріями. Європейський Суд у своїх рішеннях проводить відмінність між об'єктивним підходом, тобто визначенням, чи були судді надані достатні гарантії, щоб виключити будь обґрунтовані сумніви в цьому відношенні, та суб'єктивним підходом, тобто прагненням переконатися в суб'єктивному обвинуваченні або інтересі певного судді у конкретній справі. У статті також проаналізовані приклади випадків, у яких може постати питання щодо недостатньої безсторонності суду: перший, функціонального характеру, стосується, наприклад, виконання однією особою різних функцій в межах судового провадження, або ієрархічні чи інші зв'язки між цією та іншою особою в межах того ж провадження; другий має особистий характер і є наслідком поведінки судді у даній справі. На підставі проведеного аналізу зроблено висновок, що безсторонність є ключовою характеристикою судді, головною ознакою судової влади та основою судового процесу і вважається очевидним фактом. Безсторонність суду має означати його діяльність виключно на основі чинного законодавства, враховуючи принцип верховенства права, на підставі професійних знань і власної правосвідомості, виключаючи будь-який сторонній вплив і підконтрольність. Власне безсторонність як ознака справедливого судового розгляду означає рівне ставлення суду до учасників, вирішення спору як нейтральним і безстороннім фахівцем без надання комусь переваг. Саме такий стан речей зможе реально забезпечити право кожної особи на справедливий судовий процес та слугувати стандартом організації судочинства у правовій демократичній державі.

У статті досліджено окремі аспекти застосування практики Європейського Суду з прав людин и під час здійснення правосуддя в кримінальних провадженнях щодо корупційних злочинів. Проаналізовано сучасні думки науковців щодо застосування практики Європейського Суду з прав людини під час здійснення правосуддя в кримінальних провадженнях щодо корупційних злочинів. Досліджено авторські наукові підходи, які обґрунтовують висновок про те, що використання практики ЄСПЛ у кримінальному су-дочинстві України є обов’язковим. Визначено, що застосування практики Європейського Суду з прав людини під час здійснення правосуддя в кримінальних провадженнях щодо корупційних злочинів прямо передбачено ч. 2 ст. 8 КПК України. Також доведено, що використання практики ЄСПЛ вітчизняними судами під час здійснення правосуддя в кримінальних провадженнях щодо корупційних злочинів як мотивація виправдувальних вироків не завжди пов’язана з урахуванням практики ЄСПЛ щодо провокації вчинення злочину, а також засновується на використанні доктрини «плодів отруйного дерева» та «розумного сумніву».

In the recent period of Ukrainian history, scholars pay attention to the discussion of the relationship between Ukrainian constitutional law and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the place of rulings and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the legal system of Ukraine. The analysis of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and current Ukrainian legislation is made in the article. It is made in order to determine the impact of this act of the Council of Europe on the constitutional law of Ukraine. It is noted that the Convention plays an important role in the process of protection of human rights and freedoms in Ukraine and has an impact on the implementation of the rule of law, which relate to individual’s constitutional status. It is noted that the European Convention significantly increases the level of the effectiveness of constitutional human rights legislation. The role of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights in the formation and activity of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has been determined. The thesis that within the ratio of the Convention and Ukrainian law, the supremacy of the latter within the national legal system does not eliminate the need to comply with international obligations is substantiated in the article. The grounds for restricting human and civil rights and freedoms in accordance with the requirements of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the constitutional legislation of Ukraine are considered in the article. In order to ensure national security, the restriction of human and civil rights and freedoms in a state of martial law and emergency is analyzed. By introducing martial law and a state of emergency, it is possible to concentrate temporarily all the levers of control over the individual’s status by coercive means within the framework of official power. The conclusion that the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights have had a significant impact on the formation and development of human and civil rights and freedoms as basic, value priorities of the constitutional law of Ukraine is substantiated in the article. Key words: constitutional law, sources of law, Council of Europe, Constitution of Ukraine, Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, European Court of Human Rights.

Introduction. Ukraine signed Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms many years ago to provide effective protection of fundamental rights for every human that stands out on its' territory. This document is interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights. Practice of this Court must be used by national courts of Ukraine to match international human rights' standards. However, according to results of statistical research, application of that legal positions by national judges aren’t correct enough. The purpose of the paper is to identify and analyze problematic issues of application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights by national courts of Ukraine. The authors also wanted to investigate the national practice of using the ECHR' legal positions and to provide recommendations to address shortcomings in such application. Results. The paper considers the issue of application of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights by the national courts of Ukraine. The legal nature of ECHR decisions' is studied. Authors are stick to the idea that judgments of ECHR aren’t classic precedent. There are authors' opinions about the problem of applying the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which has no official translation. They think that judges need to be taught professional English and French. So that they will be able to understand original text of judgments correct. There is also a thought about necessity of creating special database with Ukrainian translation of some judgments. Authors have also revealed problematic aspects of the application such as: erroneous, manipulative, formal references. There are some decisions of Ukrainian courts that have been analyzed by the authors. Erroneous references to decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in such cases have been determined. Authors stated that the reason of those defects is insufficient awareness of judges about the specifics of application legal positions of ECHR. Conclusion. According to the results of the work, the importance of education and training of future judges is stated. In addition, authors emphasized on necessity of further observations of this question.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in the field of family law. In this article, the authors explore the definition of "family life" in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; topical issues on the recognition of cohabitation of same- sex couples in family life and on the state registration of same-sex marriages; issues of protection of the child's interests in resolving family law disputes. The authors point out that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights is a source of family law in Ukraine. The authors found that the European Court of Human Rights uses an autonomous concept of "family life", which is broader than the definition of "family" and is characterized by certain criteria. In matters of same-sex marriage, the European Court of Human Rights recognizes same-sex partnerships in family life, but leaves it to the state to register such marriages. In the judgments analyzed by the authors, the European Court of Human Rights assumes that Article 12 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms enshrines the traditional model of marriage. The authors conclude that the issue of legalization of same-sex marriages should be decided by states taking into account ethnic, cultural, religious and other characteristics. In matters relating to the protection of the rights of the child, the European Court of Human Rights uses the notion of "the best interests of the child". The Court emphasizes the special bond between children and their biological parents, which is part of family life.The state must ensure the child's right to communicate with other relatives and persons with whom the relationship is important to the child, as well as the child's right to develop in a safe, secure and stable environment. Parents should have equal rights in resolving child custody disputes. When deciding on paternity, DNA analysis is the only scientific method of accurately establishing the paternity of a particular child and its probative value significantly exceeds any other evidence presented by the parties to confirm or deny their close relationship.

The article is devoted to the study of the nature of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and their significance as a source of law in the context of Ukraine. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights establishes new rules and regulations that may differ from and supplement national civil regulations. This case law, as well as the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is considered an important source of civil law and is binding on national legal systems. As a result, it becomes an integral part of national civil law, or, more precisely, its "living organism". The activities of the European Court reflect not only the European legal experience, but also influence the very evolution of the legislation of the countries party to the Convention. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of how the case law of the European Court is embodied and used in the national legislation of Ukraine and how other legal scholars perceive this influence. The legal specificity of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights attracts the attention of many legal scholars. All this is due to its unique role as a supranational jurisdictional body with the exclusive right to interpret and apply the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as the specifics of the legal systems of the Council of Europe member states, where the law combines both continental and Anglo-American types of legal systems. Taking into account the special status of the European Court of Human Rights, there are discussions in the national legal science on the interaction between national legislation and the Court’s precedents, with a special emphasis on determining their legal nature. An important issue is the possibility of considering the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights as precedents and the possibility of implementing case law in Ukraine.