Forum: European Court of Human Rights
INTERIGHTS' role: Third party intervener
Keywords: Right to life, degrading treatment, effective remedy, discrimination
In late June 2007, INTERIGHTS' Equality Programme intervened as a third party before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Nahide Opuz v Turkey. Ms Opuz applied to the ECtHR following the killing of her mother at the hands of her husband after years of persistent domestic violence. The domestic violence was repeatedly reported to the authorities, though many of these complaints were subsequently withdrawn upon the threat of further violence. The case highlights the positive obligations of States to effectively protect women from domestic violence, recognised by the Council of Europe as the leading killer of women aged between 19 and 44. The applicants argue violations of Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment), 13 (right to an effective remedy) and 14 (freedom from discrimination).
INTERIGHTS' comments emphasised the importance of domestic violence being treated as a matter of public interest, rather than as a private or family matter. The comments established the international human rights framework in which State obligations to protect, and to effectively investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators should be considered in the particularly context of domestic violence. Interights emphasises that while the obligation to prosecute perpetrators requires that the criminal justice process must be responsive to victims’ needs, it cannot put the onus on victims to initiate and impel that process. Interights’ brief further highlighted the increasing recognition of violence against women as a form of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law, submitting that the failure to adequately respond to such gender-specific violence amounts to discrimination under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The case, brought by Turkish lawyers Mesut Beştaş and Meral Beştaş, is currently pending before the ECtHR’s Second Section.
INTERIGHTS Contact: Andrea Coomber, Senior Lawyer, Equality Programme
Related Links
INTERIGHTS' third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights (legal brief)
