Opinion

Isn’t it time for some accurate information about human rights?

By Adam Wagner, Founder and Chair 14 Aug 2015
Institutions
You may have noticed that we have just launched a beautiful new infographic…

The European Court of Human Rights Uncovered: What it does, who it protects, why it matters

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If you care about communicating accurate information on human rights, then please share the infographic and individual cards as widely as possible by social media, email, telegram, pigeon, or just by shouting deliriously out of your window.
The current government is considering leaving the European Convention on Human Rights. It is therefore extremely important that people have access to clear, accurate information about what the European Court of Human Rights does, who it protects and why it matters.

Bringing the court to life

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We set ourselves the challenge of bringing the work of the European Court of Human Rights to life through fun, sharable infographics . With the help of Information is Beautiful Studio, we think we’ve cracked it. Our detailed research has also brought to light some important facts:
  • – The UK only loses around 1 out of 100 cases at the court (card 9.) The Daily Mail and Sun have reported that the UK loses 3 out of 4 and 3 out of 5 cases at the court respectively.
  • – Two thirds of the people who have won cases against the UK since 1959 are not terrorists, criminals or prisoners. Again, contrary to what you might have read in the newspapers (Card 10)
  • – The Court protects over 800 million people and costs 6 pence per European per year to run (card 7)
  • – The Court is raising standards across Europe, which is good for the UK. In the past two decades, it has been focussing on the post-Communist states, Italy and Turkey, where most of the human rights violations (by far) are happening (cards 3, 4 and 5).
  • – The countries which are longstanding members of court lose the least cases that go to a full judgment (card 4)
  • – Over half of the human rights violations the court finds are about the right to a fair trial and property rights – these are key issues particularly in parts of Europe which were formally communist (Card 6)

You can see our working!

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All of the statistics we have used for our infographics are available through a Google Sheet – you can find it by clicking “data” at the bottom right of any of the cards. Please let us know if you have any comments or spot any issues.

About The Author

Adam Wagner Founder and Chair

Adam is the founder and Chair of EachOther. In his day job, he is a barrister specialising in human rights law and is well known for his human rights communications work on social and mainstream media. In 2010, he set up the hugely successful UK Human Rights Blog.

Adam is the founder and Chair of EachOther. In his day job, he is a barrister specialising in human rights law and is well known for his human rights communications work on social and mainstream media. In 2010, he set up the hugely successful UK Human Rights Blog.