Reinforcing the New Democracies: The European Convention on Human Rights and the Former Communist Countries - A Study of the Case Law

Abstract

This article is based on a survey of decisions by the European Commission of Human Rights regarding applications from former Communist countries which ratified the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (known as the European Convention on Human Rights, hereinafter 'the Convention') following the dramatic events in Europe in the fall of 1989. To date, eight new countries from Central and Eastern Europe have ratified the Convention: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR) had ratified the Convention before it split into two States. The jurisdiction of the Convention was also extended to the former East Germany, as a result of its unification with the former West Germany. This article is a result, of a study of all the European Commission of Human Rights' decisions in applications from the new Member States. However, it does not include a discussion of cases summarily decided by the Commission, when all the decision concluded was that no violation of the Convention had been found. For these reasons, the article cannot be seen as an overview of all the complaints that