The Council of Europe’s leader denounced attempts at “policising” the European Court of Human Rights on Saturday in a direct rebuke to several countries that signed an open letter challenging the court’s rulings on migration.
“Upholding the independence and impartiality of the Court is our bedrock,” Alain Berset, secretary general of the Council of Europe, wrote in his response responding to a letter signed by nine other countries challenging the court’s decisions limiting government action on migration. “Debate is healthy, but politicising the Court is not.”
The letter, spearheaded by Italy and Denmark and first reported by Euractiv, is challenging the way the Strasbourg-based court has interpreted the European Convention on Human Rights, a key text safeguarding people’s liberties on the continent.
Joining Italy and Denmark in demanding a “new and open-minded conversation” on migration powers and human-rights law in the letter were Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
The move follows months of growing calls to revisit or reinterpret long-standing international legal frameworks, particularly around migration.
Berset accused those countries of undermining the court and the convention: “In a society governed by the rule of law, no judiciary should face political pressure. Institutions that protect fundamental rights cannot bend to political cycles. If they do, we risk eroding the very stability they were built to ensure.”
He noted that all 46 countries in the Council of Europe “freely signed and ratified” the human rights convention, which the court is tasked with enforcing.
The court, Berset declared, “must not be weaponised – neither against governments, nor by them”.
(bts)
