Shifting Centres of Gravity in Human Rights Protection

The protection of human rights in Europe is currently at a crossroads. There are competing processes which push and pull the centre of gravity of this protection between the ECHR system in Strasbourg, the EU system in Luxemburg and Brussels, and the national protection of human rights.

This book brings together researchers from the fields of international human rights law, EU law and constitutional law to reflect on the tug-of-war over the positioning of the centre of gravity of human rights protection in Europe. It addresses both the position of the Convention system vis-a-vis the Contracting States, but also its positioning vis-a-vis fundamental rights protection in the European Union. The volume analyses how current developments reflect conflicting trends with regard to the positioning of this centre of gravity, and assesses the implications thereof for the future of European human rights protection. Having thus set the scene, the book takes a critical look at the tools that have been developed at the European level for navigating these complex relationships, in order to identify whether they are capable of responding effectively to the complexities of emerging realities in the triangular relationship between the EHCR, EU law and national law.

Oddny Mjoll Arnardottir is Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Iceland and Chairwoman of its Human Rights Institute.

Antoine Buyse is Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) of Utrecht University and a member of the Young Academy of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, member of the Editorial Board of the Dutch human rights review, and he hosts a weblog about the European Convention on Human Rights (echrblog.blogspot.com).