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https://www.information.dk/indland/2017/11/menneskerettighedsdomstolen-succes-fejlfri |
Since the early 1950s the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been crucial to the protection of basic human rights in Europe. It is equally relevant to the citizens of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe and to the victims of war and persecution who seek refuge in these countries.
Denmark, once a proud Scandinavian front runner in the global work to strengthen human rights, might have surprised some observers when it was announced in November 2016 that the government had formed a task force of civil servants that were going to lobby the other 46 governments in the Council of Europe in order to change the “dynamic interpretation” of the ECHR. Those closely acquainted with developments in Denmark, however, would have noticed a series of very restrictive legislative measures following the arrivals of asylum seekers in Europe in the autumn of 2015.
While the 1951 UN Refugee Convention does not contain a right to family reunification the ECHR’s Article 8 on the right to private and family life is a vital legal instrument for the protection of this right. When undermining the “dynamic interpretation” of the ECHR, practiced by the European Court on Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, Denmark is in fact targeting the right to family reunification.
The Danish task force started its activities in late 2016. From a reply by the German federal government to the left-wing party Die Linke in the Bundestag we have learned that the head of the task force met with German colleagues in Berlin on December 1st. And that it became clear that the German government “will, as in the past, work to strengthen the ECtHR and the ECHR protection system”. [1]