About two or three times a week, I visit the website of the European Court of Human Rights (hudoc.echr.coe.int). And I promptly go to the page listing all hitherto resolved legal cases—that is, the court’s judgements and decisions. There is much to learn from this list about human rights in forty-seven countries that form the Council of Europe, all of which are covered by the court in Strasbourg. To begin with, Turkey is the top country in terms of the number of cases. Interestingly, Italy comes second and Russia takes the third place. Not far behind are France, Romania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Greece, in that order. At first sight, countries within the European Union and those outside it are not all that different in terms of human rights’ violations. But it is noteworthy that Germany is right between Greece and Hungary in spite of its considerably larger population. Further down the list in terms of the number of cases are Moldova, Croatia, and the Netherlands. They are trailed by Portugal and Belgium. Not surprisingly, at the bottom of the list in terms of major European countries are Denmark, Norway, Ireland, and Luxemburg, in that order. These are the winners in terms of human rights irrespective of country size. Given its population, though, Croatia is not doing particularly well. Still, it beats Moldova, which is smaller than Croatia by half-a-million inhabitants. Returning to Strasbourg’s site on the World Wide Web, it is worth studying in quite some detail. And often. Greater Europe in all its glory is right in front of one’s eyes.

Addendum (March 11, 2021)

One can learn a great deal about the performance of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg by reading the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (see, e.g. “Human Rights Galore,” January 25, 2011). To wit, the court puts highest priority on fundamental rights and freedoms. The first article of the convention states that all countries of the European Council must secure rights and freedoms from the convention, but the next four articles concern right to life, prohibition of torture, prohibition of slavery and forced labor, and right to liberty and security. Which explains the ranking of countries in this particular piece of writing, and especially that of Turkey and Russia. The following five articles of the convention concern right to a fair trial, no punishment without law, right to respect for private and family life, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and freedom of expression. As it turns out, my case against Croatia concerns less important articles of the convention, such as right to a fair trial and freedom of expression, and this appears to be the main reason why I have been waiting for such a long time for the court’s verdict. To Croatia’s credit, the four rights and freedoms of greatest priority to the court are seldom at issue. To repeat, these are right to life, prohibition of torture, prohibition of slavery and forced labor, and right to liberty and security. According to the ranking of countries in this piece, these rights and freedoms are reasonably well protected in the country in which I happen to be residing at present. Congratulations all around!