The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) hit back at the criticism of nine EU member states led by Denmark and Italy that its narrow interpretation of international asylum rights is hindering countries’ abilities to protect their borders, rejecting their call for long-overdue reforms.
“Debate is healthy, but politicizing the Court is not,” wrote Alain Berset, Secretary General of the ECtHR, in an official statement on May 24th, condemning the nine countries for trying to exert “political pressure” on the Court.
“Institutions that protect fundamental rights cannot bend to political cycles. If they do, we risk eroding the very stability they were built to ensure,” Berset wrote. “The Court must not be weaponized—neither against governments, nor by them.”
As we reported, the nine countries—Italy, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—argued in a joint letter that the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which came into force over seven decades ago, no longer reflects the political realities of modern migration and must be updated to “match the challenge that we face today.”
The countries added that there had been several cases where the Court prevented them from expelling “criminal foreign nationals,” showing that the current interpretation of the Convention too often results in “the protection of the wrong people,” hindering ten making of “political decisions in our own democracies.”
Still, Berset reminded them in their response that they signed and ratified the ECHR voluntarily, just like all 46 members of the Council of Europe—if the others can comply, so should the nine protesting countries.
Furthermore, the secretary general added that any reinterpretation of the Convention risks undermining not only asylum rights, but all human rights protected by it, including those violated in the context of the war in Ukraine.
“As we face today’s complex challenges, our task is not to weaken the Convention, but to keep it strong and relevant—to ensure that liberty and security, justice and responsibility, are held in balance,” Berset concluded.
However, judging by the determination of Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen, this saga is far from being over. “Defending rights also means defending security, legality, and freedom. Italy is there and leads the charge,” Meloni stated.
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