Chapter

Application of the ECHR during international armed conflicts

Clare Ovey

The UK and European human rights : a strained relationship ?

Oxford ; Portland : Hart, 2015

p. 225-245

English

Photocopies

The principles relating to the application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) during extraterritorial armed conflicts have, to a very large extent, been expounded by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in cases against the United Kingdom - particularly cases involving its military activity in Iraq from 2013. In the final case in the series concerning the British in Iraq, Hassan v UK, the UK government asked the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR to hold that the State's obligation to secure the rights and freedoms set out in the ECHR did not apply in the active hostilities phase of an international armed conflict. The Court rejected this argument, holding that such a conclusion would be inconsistent with its own previous case law and with that of the International Court of Justice. This chapter explores how the Court has interpreted the notion of "jurisdiction" in Article 1 ECHR so that it does, indeed, have an application in certain circumstances where a State is involved in armed conflict outside its national territory. It also examines the extent to which, hand in hand with this development of the case law on jurisdiction, there has been recognition by the Court that the Convention rights should be interpreted and applied in a way which takes into account the legal and factual particularities of armed conflict.