The European system of human rights protection under the ECHR.

The rights enshrined therein are essentially drawn from the first half of the Universal Declaration. They are the right to life; freedom from torture and other inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; freedom from slavery and forced or compulsory labour; right to liberty and security of person; right to a fair trial; prohibition on retroactive penal legislation; right to private and family life, home and correspondence; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression; right to an effective remedy for a violation of the rights; and freedom from discrimination in respect of the specific rights and freedoms. It did provide considerably more detail on many of the rights and, of course, it articulated a binding legal framework to ensure the realization of those rights.

The Convention is the first instrument to provide an effective enforcement mechanism for human rights protection though, in keeping with a strict notion of international law, the Convention envisaged the Court as a supervisory body, hearing cases brought by States against States or referred by the Commission pursuant to its decision on an individual application.