European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

The European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) is an international court set up in 1959. It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1998 it has sat as a full-time court and individuals can apply to it directly. The Court examined hundreds of thousands of applications since it was set up.

Its judgments are binding on the countries concerned and have led governments to alter their legislation and administrative practice in a wide range of areas. The Court's case law makes the Convention a modern and powerful living instrument for meeting new challenges and consolidating the rule of law and democracy in Europe.

The European Convention on Human Rights is an international treaty under which the member States of the Council of Europe promise to secure fundamental civil and political rights, not only to their own citizens but also to everyone within their jurisdiction.

• the right to life
• the right to a fair hearing
• the right to respect for private and family life
• freedom of expression
• freedom of thought conscience and religion

As mandated shunning cases make their way from member state courts to the ECHR we will post updates.

Our ultimate goal is to set the legal precedent for mandated shunning as a hate crime, by funding international legal cases that highlight the issue and get it enshrined and enforced in law. We already have a major case in the Belgium Supreme Court. If successful, this will set the necessary precedent for prosecutions of high-control groups for mandated shunning.