The Practice of the European Court of Human Rights in the Confrontation Between Democracy and Human Rights

Abstract

The right of peoples to self-determination, political participation, and its associated rights—including political rights and freedoms, the right to vote and be elected, the principle of equality, and the prohibition of discrimination—are among the treaty-based rules and internationally accepted norms derived from the principle of democratic legitimacy and subsequently guaranteed through treaty mechanisms. The relationship between democracy and human rights is akin to that between the body and the soul in a human being. Democracy is the body, and human rights are its soul. Democracy is a modern institution—a structure for the distribution and containment of power. Human rights are a collection of human values in the modern world that operate within democratic regimes. Democracy is a method of governance, and human rights are values for living within that democratic method. Human rights, like the soul, flow through democracy and give it life. If we accept democracy as a method and human rights as a value, the analogy of the relationship between democracy and human rights to that of the body and the soul is the most apt comparison. The main question of the present study is: how has the European Court of Human Rights interpreted the components of democracy that have been in tension with human rights in the cases brought before it? This study has been conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, relying on library and internet resources. The author's hypothesis is that the European Court of Human Rights has consistently emphasized that, although in the interpretation and application of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, a "margin of appreciation" is considered for states to express their views and take into account their cultural, political, and social values and interests, this margin of appreciation is accompanied by the Court’s oversight. This is to ensure that states do not ignore human rights values under the pretext of considering their own interests and values.