Fundamental Rights : The European and International Dimension

This textbook explains how fundamental rights are protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, EU law (including the EU Charter) and international treaty instruments. It includes discussions of both civil/political rights (eg the freedom of expression) and social/economic rights (eg the right to health, the right to social security).

In Europe, fundamental rights have come to be regulated by an increasing number of legal instruments, such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and international treaties. It is not always easy to understand what requirements are set in these different instruments and how they interrelate. This textbook therefore provides an integrated and systematic overview of the requirements imposed by international and European fundamental rights law. It discusses a range of both civil/political fundamental rights (eg freedom of expression) and social/economic rights (eg right to health), for each of which it is discussed how it is protected by the ECHR, by other Council of Europe instruments, by EU law, and by international treaty instruments. Each chapter is concluded with an integration section, which explains the relations between the different systems of fundamental rights protection and discuss differences, overlap and bottlenecks.