The tools of militant democracy in the system of European Convention on Human Rights

Abstract

This study focuses on the defense mechanisms of a democracy, mainly, on the interpretation of the prohibition of abuse of rights in Article 17 European Convention on Human Rights. Given the background and understanding of this provision as an instrument to protect democracy and democratic values (i.e. an instrument of a militant democracy), this study touches upon the way how the European Court of Human Rights should cope with anti-democratic actors aiming at subverting or overturning democracy with democratic means (e.g. through a public speech (which is protected by the article 10 of the Convention) which denies the Holocaust).The study also explains how to apply Article 17, the rights whi chare circumscribed by it and the negative effect of its scope. The jurisprudence and findings of the European Court of Human Rights are the core source of this study, followed by the teachings of the publicists in this field.

Keywords

• abuse of rights
• militant democracy
• fundamental rights and freedoms
• anti-democratic actors
• inadmissible ratione materiae
• interference