NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

The research of the literature dealing with the notion ‘non-governmental organisation’ within the Convention has shown that there is not yet a detailed monograph that would cover the issue in question. Certain comments on the subject matter can be found in the manuals on the Convention by Karen Reid, 9 Philip Leach, 10 Harris and O’Boyle, 11 Jiři Kmec, 12 as well as many others. 13 Partially, the status of NGOs under the Convention was covered in the monograph of Anna-Karin Lindblom 14 and scientific articles concerning the human rights of legal persons. 15 Some basic ideas on the functioning of international law derived from UN documents 16 and various international treaties. 17 None of them, however, is of an exhaustive nature. Therefore, the case-law of the Court, taken from the course of more than fifty years of its practice, serves as the main source of information for this manuscript. The current study titled ‘Non-Governmental Organisations under the European Convention on Human Rights: Exceptional Legal Standing’ presents among the first studies in the theory of international law research to examine the different aspects of NGOs’ standing under the Convention as the whole. The given here analysis covers all the provisions in the Convention and the Protocols to it, which are applicable to non-governmental organisations within the meaning of Article 34 of this treaty. This book consists of three chapters. The First Chapter defines the main term of this study: ‘non-governmental organisation’. This term has a number of meanings, not only in the instruments of various international organisations and in legal theory, but also in different treaties within the Council of Europe and even in diverse parts of the Convention itself. The main idea of this Chapter is to explain how the term ‘non-governmental organisation’ is understood in the Convention in comparison to 9 REID, K. A practitioner’s guide to the European Convention on Human Rights . 4 th ed. London: Thomson/Sweet & Maxwell, 2012. 10 LEACH, P. Taking a Case to the European Court of Human Rights. Oxford: OUP Oxford, 2011. 11 HARRIS, D.J., O’BOYLE, M., BATES, E.P., BUCKLEY, C.M. Law of the European Convention on Human Rights . 2 nd ed., Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009 and the 3 rd edition of 2014. 12 KMEC, J., KOSAŘ, D., KRATOCHVÍL, J., BOBEK, M. Evropská úmluva o lidských právech. Komentář. 1. vydání. Praha: C. H. Beck, 2012. 13 For example, GOMIEN, D. Short guide to the European Convention on Human Rights (3rd edition). Council of Europe Publishing, 2005; VAN DIJK, P. Theory and practice of the European Convention on Human Rights. 4th ed., Antwerpen; Oxford: Intersentia, 2006 and GRABENWARTER, C. European Convention on Human Rights : commentary . München: C.H. Beck ; Oxford : Hart ; Baden-Baden : Nomos; Basel : Helbing Lichtenhahn, 2014. 14 LINDBLOM, A.K. Non-Governmental Organizations in International Law . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; TOMUSCHAT, C. Human Rights Between Idealism and Realism , Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 15 See, for instance, FURA-SANDSTRÖM, E. Business and human rights: who cares? In Liber amicorum Luzius Wildhaber : human rights, Strasbourg views = Droits de l’homme, regards de Strasbourg / eds. Lucius Caflisch … [et al.]. – Kehl; Strasbourg ; Arlington, Va. : N.P. Engel, 2007 and EMBERLAND, M. The Corporate Veil in the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights. Za6RV 63 (2003), 945-969. 16 Resolution on the Criteria for Granting and Enjoying Observer Status to Non-Governmental Organizations Working in the field of Human and Peoples’ Rights, Bujumbura, ACHPR /Res.33 (XXV)99, 5 May 1999. 17 See, European convention on the recognition of the legal personality of international non-governmental organisations, Strasbourg, 24 April 1986.

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