This book explains the origins, structure and functioning of the European Convention on Human Rights, and its position in the overall system of protection of human rights in Europe. It discusses and analyses the composition, functions and procedure of the Court of Human Rights. It clarifies the scope of each of the rights and freedoms laid down by the Convention by reference to the case law of the Court. It also explains the status and impact of the Convention in Swedish law and in the law of the European Union. It provides a detailed guide to research sources and methodology for those wishing to investigate human rights issues under the Convention in more detail. The book is written primarily for students of public law, international law and political science, but it can also be of interest to practising lawyers and others.[Bokinfo]
The primary aim of this study as a whole is to examine how useful a safeguard the Convention is, and can be, in the sensitive area of national security law and practice. The first part of the book consists of an examination of the national security concept generally in the Convention and the context of national security concerns in European states. The second part of the book is devoted to detailed studies of secret surveillance and security data registers, both of the court and commission's case law and of national laws in the field. The third part of the book consists of an article-by-article analysis of the case law of the commission and the court dealing with national security. The book is of interest to academics, practising lawyers and legislators interested in human rights and national security issues
Abstract The Swedish police has recently been the subject of a major reform. A single national police force was created in 2015, consisting of a hierarchal structure with a central body and seven subordinate regional authorities, in turn divided into a number of local police units. The reform replaces the previous central supervisory body and 21 autonomous county police authorities. The reform was intended primarily to improve effectiveness, but improved local responsiveness was also a goal. Complaints from the rank and file dominated news reporting on the reform throughout 2016. The police trade union claimed that the Swedish police was an organization in crisis. The first official evaluation of the reform was published in October 2016 and a more nuanced picture has begun to emerge. This article will examine the reform, the emerging findings from the evaluation, and new challenges around governance and accountability.
AbstractThe introduction of Security Council targeted financial and travel sanctions against individuals involves a qualitative change in Security Council sanctions policy, which has previously been directed against governmental entities. Targeted sanctions can be a useful weapon in the international community's attempts to pressurize repressive regimes into accepting change. However, there is a problem in using against individuals, a powerful international law mechanism designed for pressurizing states. Individuals' rights under domestic and international law can be severely affected by such sanctions. The blacklists created under Resolutions 1333 and 1390 cause particular problems, as these are quasi-criminal in nature and in practice entail an allegation that the targeted persons are terrorists or terrorist associates. However, there is no international legal mechanism for checking or reviewing the accuracy of the information forming the basis of a sanctions committee blacklisting or the necessity for, and proportionality of, measures adopted. The implementation against non-governmental or quasi-governmental entities of targeted Security Council sanctions in European states is almost certainly contrary to European human rights norms, in particular, the right of access to court under Article 6 ECHR. There is thus a conflict between obligations under the United Nations Charter (UNC) on the one hand and the ECHR (and for EU states, EC law) on the other. Mechanisms can, however, be created which provide a broadly similar level of protection to that provided by Article 6 ECHR while maintaining whatever effectiveness targeted sanctions possess, so there is no logical incompatibility between obligations under the ECHR and Security Council sanctions.
The Swedish statute incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights (hereafter "the Convention") entered into force on 1 January 1995.1The 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 one's 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.2Many 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.
