Proportionality and the European Convention on Human Rights. A critical view

Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, grade: 8.5/10, Leiden University (Faculty of Law), course: LL.M. Thesis, language: English, abstract: Human rights cases gradually gain ground in the European legal scene and judges invent solutions in order to tackle their intricacies. Through balancing the conflicting human rights either against each other or against public interest, proportionality has been elevated as a basic principle of interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The paper examines whether resorting to proportionality every time a human rights dispute arises is methodologically sound and discusses the drawbacks of its repeated invocation. It argues that proportionality constitutes a misguided quest for precision and objectivity in the resolution of human rights disputes and suggests that courts should instead focus on the real moral issues underlying such disputes.