Two months ago the Council of Europe launched an open call and invited contributions on the reform and future of the European Convention of Human Rights system. A large number of creative ideas were submitted by an equally wide range of NGOs, academic and individuals. All of these can now be found online on the website of the Council of Europe. Among them are many renowned human rights experts including Fiona de Londras, Janneke Gerards, Marten Breuer, Steven Greer, Elisabeth Lambert Abdelgawad, and Philip Leach. The contributions come from all corners of Europe, from the UK to Estonia and from Liechtenstein to Armenia. They range from ideas for internal Court reforms to outright changes of the Convention. Just to mention one of the most orginal, albeit also least comprehensible ones: “Due to similarities of nature and society, in structures (humans-molecules; body-society) and in relationships, Physics may offer its models for Law (Jus-physics).” It made me think of the heydays of the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century … In any event, the large variety of proposals offers a lot of food for thought for the working groups addressing the Convention’s and the Court’s future.
Creative Ideas on the Future of the Court
