Interpreting the ECHR in its normative environment: interaction between the ECHR, the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the UN convention on the rights of the child

Abstract

The article draws attention to how integrative interpretationa methodology where the European Court of Human Rights integrates its normative environment into the interpretation of the European Convention of Human Rightsmay offer an important path to bridging many of the challenges caused by fragmentation in the field of human rights. More specifically, the article offers insight into a selection of ECHR cases that are characterized by the existence of normative overlap between the ECHR, the CEDAW and the CRC; and by the fact that interaction between these legal sources actually takes place in the interpretation carried out by the Court. Interaction is discussed through two topics: the issue of state obligations in relation to domestic violence, and the issue of state obligations in relation to expulsion of immigrants with children. The article demonstrates that systemic integration may result in a strengthening of the protection of human rights under ECHR through what is termed 'interpretive widening and thickening'.

The European Court of Human Rights’ Engagement with International Human Rights Instruments: Looking at the Cases of Domestic Violence

“…By relying on this article, the ECtHR maintains an evolutive treaty interpretation method and expands the scope of the rights guaranteed under the ECHR in the light of relevant sources of international law (Arato, 2012: 353). In the Opuz v Turkey case, the Court engaged with the CEDAW's definition of "gender-based discrimination" and therefore interpreted the ECHR in its "normative environment" (Blaker Strand, 2020).…”