Iain Cameron

The Swedish Experience of the European Convention on Human Rights Since Incorporation

The Swedish statute incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights (hereafter “the Convention”) entered into force on 1 January 1995. 1 The present article will look at what can loosely be termed the constitutional issues raised by incorporation of the Convention into Swedish law. One of the most interesting features of the Convention, like EC law, is that it is a separate, autonomous system of law which nonetheless, with incorporation, becomes a part of the national legal system. As such it cuts across national legal categorisations. But it is also an incomplete system. Convention issues can arise under national law which have not (yet) arisen in the context of the Convention system. Thus, studying the case law of other jurisdictions dealing with the Convention can be of immediate benefit to ones own system, even leaving aside the long-term, indirect benefit to be gained by studying comparative constitutional law in general. While the main focus of the article is directed at explaining the Swedish system for English-speaking readers, I will also draw some parallels with the British legislation incorporating the Convention. 2 Many questions remain regarding the likely impact of the Convention on British law. In time, the courts and Parliament will provide an answer to these. In the meantime, British lawyers can usefully study other jurisdictions.

The Court and the member states : procedural aspects

This chapter analyses recent procedural reforms of the European Court of Human Rights and possible future reformss.

Terrorism And Human Rights Monitoring

This chapter presents a brief overview of the types of issues involving terrorism that have arisen before human rights monitoring bodies. The types of issues that arise before human rights monitoring bodies thus concern State measures that allegedly violate human rights in combating terrorism. The chapter reviews some of the procedural and practical problems that monitoring bodies have encountered, drawing most of examples from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Human Rights Committee (HRC). To begin with, all international systems of human rights monitoring are subsidiary to the national protection mechanisms. Human rights monitoring that is based on individual complaints naturally requires someone to complain. A way of avoiding difficult issues of proof as regards alleged violations of the right to life has been developed by the ECtHR by its insistence on a proper investigation by the security forces. Keywords: European Court of human rights (ECtHR); human rights committee (HRC); human rights monitoring bodies; national protection mechanisms; terrorism