Strasbourg Court – why is it significant?

When an argument can’t be settled otherwise, consult the court, and when human rights are endangered, you should look for the highest court. This is Strasbourg, a beautiful and picturesque city on the border of France and Germany and much more – a beacon of democracy and human rights. With a home to a potential 700 million justice-seekers around Europe, the International Court of Human Rights is one of the biggest legal institutions in the world. But how does it function, and more importantly, is it binding? Have a look at our video and find out the answers to this and many more questions.

00:00 – Intro
00:21 – Strasbourg history and the ECHR
01:34 – What does the ECHR do?
01:58 – How does the ECHR work?
03:00 – Example of how the ECHR works
04:08 – Phases of reaching a verdict
05:37 – Examples of real cases
06:47 – Conclusion

#strasbourg #europeancourtofhumanrights #legal #law #legalsystem #countries #groups #history #democracy #rights #humanrights #courtrulings #freedom #europe #europeancountry

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There’s an interesting saying in my country, we’ll go to Strasbourg if needed, referring to getting justice. But why is this saying so important and why can you hear it practically on a daily basis? Today we’re going to be talking about Strasbourg and why is it called a capital of justice. Strasbourg is a picturesque city which is located on the border between Germany and France. Today, in Strasbourg, you can find the European Court of Human Rights, which serves over 700 million people. By that, it’s one of the biggest courts in the world, and you can apply there as an individual or as an organization. Why is Strasbourg so interesting? Mostly because of its geographical position. Today, a part of France, it’s located very much near the border with Germany. During history, it changed its owners pretty much on a regular basis. From being a part of the whole Roman Empire to becoming a part of France and a part of Germany, it has been changing rulers quite frequently. Only in the 19th century, it changed rulers over five times. So it has been a subject of many wars. Well, after the Second World War, it has been a city that’s been ruined, a city that’s been renewed, and in 1949, it has become the birthplace of Council of Europe. A few years later, it also became the birthplace of the European Court of Human Rights. After that, it’s also been informally known as the Capital of Justice. So the task of the court is to protect democracy and human rights. And that’s pretty much what it does. If you’re an individual, if you’re a group, if you’re a country, you can appeal to the court if you are endangered or if your rights are endangered. What the court does is gets the verdict or actually some binding agreements which put then forth protect your human rights and protect something that you stand for. How does the court work? Well, you cannot go to Strasbourg like that. You first need to appeal to your own court, your home court or your national court. After you’ve done everything you can in your national court, then you can appeal to Strasbourg and say that your human rights have been endangered. After that, Strasbourg or Strasbourg Court will review your application. The thing is, A lot of cases come to Strasbourg, 10s of thousands on a monthly basis, and they would address the ones that only clearly demonstrate that the human rights have been violated. So your application would be reviewed by a series of judges from different countries to ensure the verdict is fair. If accepted, it will go to court. In the case you win, the verdict is binding to your country, which means that it must enforce the rightful thing. So it must imply with what the court has done and said. Something like that would be a powerful reminder that the individual has its rights and has power and no country can diminish its own human rights. If there’s something that’s a bit complicated, I hear you. It is. Strasbourg has a bit of a complex situation. But let’s explain it quite an interesting story. Now, let’s say you have two countries called Milktopia and Cowland. And in Cowland, the cows like wearing bells, but Milktopia prohibits them from wearing bells on their territory. Catalan has been wearing these belts for centuries, so it’s been a part of their culture and they want to continue wearing them, but Milktopia is prohibiting them. So they go to court in Milktopia, they try to get their rights, they try to, okay, they like their belts, they want to wear them, but they keep losing in Milktopia’s courts. What do Catalan people do? They go to Strasbourg to exercise their rights. So how does the process go? So Cataland goes to Strasbourg and files a complaint. Afterwards, they review the complaints, and the complaint has been looked at, what’s the violation, does it have any grounds on Otusu Milktopia? And also, a panel of judges also reviews it, looks at the case, and approves of it and says it can go to court. So what happens next? Application. The cow land farmers filed their complaint saying the ban on cow bells violates their rights and cultural expressions and property. Next, it goes to preliminary checks. The registry court checks if the case meets key criteria. Is there a right to violation? Have local remedies been exhausted? A panel of judges reviews the case, they decide it’s adminissible, it meets all the conditions, so the case moves forward. Then it goes to the merit stage. A chamber of seven judges takes on the case. Both Calandia’s farmers and Milktopia’s government submit their arguments. The court even receives an amicus curiae brief from group of animal rights activists. Afterwards, it goes to a grand chamber. Because this case raised big questions about cultural rights in Europe, it refers to to the Grand Chamber of 17 judges for a final high-profile hearing. After the Grand Chamber, we have deliberation and verdict. After deep analysis and debate, the judges vote. The verdict? The court rules that Dogmatopia’s ban unfairly restricted cowlands farmers’ cultural rights and orders Moktopia to revise its laws and compensate the farmers. After that, we have the enforcement. The Committee of Ministers oversees that Moktopia complies. ensuring that cows of Cowland proudly wear their umbrellas once again. While Cowland and Luctopia are fictional, the process is very real. There are also activist groups that try to seek justice in Strasbourg. One of the examples comes from my country, Serbia, where 80 cyclists started their journey from the north of Serbia, in Novi Sad, and went to Strasbourg. They were driving their bikes for 1,300 kilometers, and the reason was seeking justice for the people that were killed in the railway station in Serbia. in November of last year. The students were welcomed in Strasbourg by members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, where they presented their case for justice and reform. Their peaceful and determined protest highlighted not just local grievances, but the enduring relevance of Strasbourg as a beacon for justice across Europe. There were a lot of cases that were handled by the court, and a lot of them were won by the people or some groups or minorities that seeked justice. from LGBTQ plus organizations in Northern Ireland to prisoners who wanted to vote in the UK through various religious questions, the court has had a lot of rulings in a lot of different categories and it does serve as Europe’s biggest court. So on that notion, Swarasbourg really is a very important place. It mostly is a place of democracy, of rights and of human dignity. And thanks to Discord, many people have went out into the world, returned to their countries with their heads held high, with the rights they rightly deserved. And we can definitely say that Strasbourg is the capital of justice and the capital of democracy. Meltopia needed to stop repressions on bells, so it needed to allow bells. But not only that, Meltopian people decided on signing an agreement of harmony and they actually had a holiday on these bells. So, we’ve come to the end of the video. Thank you very much for watching. If you liked this video, give it the thumbs up and subscribe to our channel for more. See you soon!