Right to an Effective Remedy in the European Convention on Human Rights

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the right to an effective remedy in the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) which guarantees the availability at national level of a remedy to enforce the substance of the Convention rights and freedoms in whatever form they may happen to be secured in the domestic legal order. Article 13 of the Convention obliges the States to protect human rights within their legal system. The States’ primary obligation deriving from Article 13 is to guarantee the availability of an effective remedy at the domestic level which must be “effective” in practice as well as in law. Moreover, the States have an obligation to demonstrate convincingly the existence of an effective remedy in the practice. At the same time, that provision obliges individuals to exhaust all effective remedies before they lodge their applications with the European Court of Human Rights (the Court). However, they are only obliged to exhaust the remedies that are effective and capable of redressing the alleged violation, accessible and offering reasonable prospects of success. Additionally, this provision creates a basis for the Court to examine the existence and effectiveness of the domestic remedies. The article analyses the Court’s case-law concerning the interplay of the parties’ obligations corresponding to the right an effective remedy from the perspective the subsidiarity of the Convention system: the primary responsibility for implementing and enforcing the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention is placed on the national authorities.