Happy anniversary? Switzerland marks 50 years at the ECHR

Half a century after Switzerland ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, the treaty and its Strasbourg court face pressure across Europe. Over the past 50 years, the European Convention on Human Rights has not always been a daily conversation topic for most Swiss. But in 2024, as if to mark the golden anniversary of ratification, it enjoyed sudden notoriety. In April, after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) – which upholds the Convention – ruled in favour of a group of older women who claimed Swiss climate policy infringed their rights, debates flared. For some, it was a trailblazing example of climate justice; for others, including parliament, it was judicial activism. Has the attention raised the profile of the ECHR? “In theory yes, in practice no,” says Evelyne Schmid from the University of Lausanne. Such a case could raise awareness of how the Court and the Convention work, or how human rights law interacts with environmental questions, she says. In reality ...