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Council of Europe: Turkey to suspend European Convention on Human Rights

21 July 2016

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"The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, has been informed by the Turkish authorities that Turkey will notify its derogation from the European Convention on Human Rights under the Convention’s Article 15....

There can be no derogation from the following articles: Article 2 (Right to life), Article 3 (Prohibition of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment), Article 4 para. 1 (prohibition of slavery), Article 7 (No punishment without law). It is important to note that the European Convention on Human Rights will continue to apply inTurkey.

Where the Government seeks to invoke Article 15 in order to derogate from the Convention in individual cases, the European Court of Human Rights will decide whether the application meets the criteria set out in the Convention, notably the criteria of proportionality of the measure taken.

The Turkish Government will inform the Secretary General about measures taken."

Steve Peers, Professor of Law, University of Essex comments: "Emergency derogation *can* be used to extend pre-trial detention and limit fair trials. Turkey has invoked it before."

See: Secretary General receives notification from Turkey of its intention to temporarily suspend the European Convention on Human Rights (pdf)

And: Statement by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn on the declaration of the State of Emergency in Turkey (link): "The declaration of State of Emergency gives the executive far reaching powers to govern by decree. Under the terms of the Turkish Constitution, core fundamental rights shall be inviolable even in the State of Emergency."

Also: ECHR Factsheet: Derogation in time of emergency (pdf)

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