Revista
de la
Universidad
del Zulia
Fundada en 1947
por el Dr. Jesús Enrique Lossada
DEPÓSITO LEGAL ZU2020000153
Esta publicación científica en formato digital
es continuidad de la revista impresa
ISSN 0041-8811
E-ISSN 2665-0428
Ciencias
Sociales
y Arte
Año 13 N° 38
Septiembre - Diciembre 2022
Tercera Época
Maracaibo-Venezuela
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The case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the
protection of Human Rights and freedoms in terms of national
security protection
Yevhen Bilousov *
Yevdokiia Streltsova **
Denys Chyzhov ***
Abbasov Nail Ibad ****
Svitlana Poliarush-Safronenko *****
ABSTRACT
The objective of the study was to analyze the practices of the European Court of Human Rights to resolve
disputes related to violations of Human Rights and freedoms and the protection of national security. The
chosen topic was extensively studied through empirical and theoretical research methods, as well as
comparative analysis. The work of the European Court of Human Rights in the field of the protection of
Human Rights and freedoms in terms of national security is related to the resolution of disputes
regarding: restrictions on privacy, access to justice, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful
assembly to protect one's interests. The relative provisions of the national legal framework and the
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms largely determine the role
of the European Court of Human Rights in resolving disputes related to the respect of Human Rights and
freedoms, as well as the protection of the rights to national security. The jurisprudence of the European
Court of Human Rights indicates the current state of the application of legal resources at the
international and national levels to guarantee national security, through the application of sanctions and
the imposition of restrictions on Human Rights and freedoms.
KEYWORDS: European Court of Human Rights, rights and freedoms, national security, protection,
justice.
*Doctor of Juridical Sciences, Professor of European Union Law Department, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law
University, Kharkiv, Ukraine. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7685-2208. E-mail: eulaw22@gmail.com
**Doctor of Juridical Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of General Legal Disciplines and
International Law, Faculty of Economics and Law; Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University, Odesa, Ukraine.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7114-1105. E-mail: streltsova27@onu.edu.ua
***PhD in Law, Associate Professor of Department of Constitutional Law and Human Rights, National
Academy of Internal Affairs, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4843-0670. E-mail:
dennchz@gmail.com
****PhD in Law, Head of firearms and trace examinations department, Forensic Science Centre of the
Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan Republic, Baku, Azerbaijan. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2713-8697.
E-mail: n.abbasov_771@yahoo.com
*****PhD in Law, Associate Professor of Department of Constitutional Law and Theoretical and Legal
Disciplines, Faculty of Law and Linguistics, Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Bila Tserkva, Ukraine.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4007-8844. E-mail: svietlanavasden_25@gmail.com
Recibido: 03/06/2022 Aceptado: 01/08/2022
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La jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos
sobre la protección de los Derechos Humanos y las libertades en
términos de protección de la seguridad nacional
RESUMEN
El objetivo del estudio fue analizar las prácticas del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos
para resolver disputas relacionadas con violaciones de los Derechos Humanos y las libertades
y la protección de la seguridad nacional. El tema elegido fue estudiado exhaustivamente a
través de los métodos de investigación empíricos y teóricos, así como del análisis
comparativo. El trabajo del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos en el campo de la
protección de los Derechos Humanos y las libertades en términos de seguridad nacional está
relacionado con la resolución de disputas con respecto a: las restricciones a la privacidad, el
acceso a la justicia, la libertad de expresión y la libertad de reunión pacífica para proteger los
propios intereses. Las disposiciones relativas del marco jurídico nacional y el Convenio para
la Protección de los Derechos Humanos y las Libertades Fundamentales determinan en gran
medida el papel del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos en la resolución de litigios
relacionados con el respeto de los Derechos Humanos y las libertades, así como la protección
de los derechos a la seguridad nacional. La jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos
Humanos indica el estado actual de la aplicación de recursos legales a nivel internacional y
nacional para garantizar la seguridad nacional, mediante la aplicación de sanciones y la
imposición de restricciones a los Derechos Humanos y las libertades.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos, derechos y libertades,
seguridad nacional, protección, justicia.
Introduction
Current transformations that occur in the society significantly expand the scope of
protection of individual rights and freedoms. The respect for the latter must be ensured by
legal tools. The generally expanding scope of fundamental human rights contributes to the
legally enshrined self-identification, self-determination and self-fulfilment of an individual.
An expanded content of human rights and freedoms promotes the establishment of their
protection at the national and international levels. In the Council of Europe, the European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) deals with the respect of fundamental human rights and
freedoms through the application of the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (Council of Europe, n.d.). The provisions of this
Convention provide for the violations and restrictions of fundamental human rights and
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freedoms in terms of the protection of national security. However, their practical
implementation by public authorities is the subject of an appeal to the ECHR to resolve a
dispute over a law enforcement.
The issue of protection of national interests and security of the state is substantial in
view of the overall development of the country and the implementation of its national
strategies. The specifics of economic, socio-political and spiritual and cultural development
of each state separately determine the peculiarities of the protection of security. The concept
of national security of any state is the key to the analysis of national security in terms of
protection of human rights and freedoms underlies. Understanding the content of national
security also allows determining the basic principles of national security policy, the main
function of which is to establish the priority interests of the state and its nation, and to
manage the development of the basic strategies that identify the main threats to the state and
the way to eliminate them.
Over time, the case law related to resolving disputes on human rights violations has
become relevant. According to the ECHR, more than 1 million appeals have been filed with
the court, 24,511 decisions have been made and 957.3 thousand applications have been
examined for 63 years of its existence (European Court of Human Rights, 2022; 2022a).
Russia (18.8%), Turkey (12.6%), Ukraine (10.3%), Romania (8.6%) and Poland (7.4%)
applied to the ECHR for protection of their rights and freedoms. Almost 40% of decisions
were made in relation to three countries: Turkey (15.6%), Russia (12.7%) and Italy (10.1%).
The ECHR reports that 84% of the decisions found violated human rights and freedoms
under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Excessive politicization of the issue of respect for human rights and freedoms in terms of
national security and the lack of a clear legal position of the judiciary in this regard
significantly complicates the research on the above issues. Although, the analysis of
international guarantees of human rights and provisions for the protection of national
security and the practice of their application in the current context is necessary for
identifying a number of factors that require thorough scientific study.
The aim of the selected study is to determine the effectiveness of the ECHR in
respecting human rights and freedoms through the prism of protecting national security.
To aim of the article involved the following research objectives:
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- determine and describe European standards for the protection of human rights and
fundamental freedoms;
- examine the national security protection system provided by the ECHR;
- identify the main problems of practical application of the provisions of the Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and propose the ways to
solve them.
1. Literature review
Many researchers have studied the protection of human rights and freedoms through
the prism of ECHR case law on national security. Bachmann and Sanden (2017) studied the
ECHR interpretation of the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights from
the perspective of national security protection. Hajipour (2020) studied the national security
protection in terms of the respect for the right to a fair trial, and concluded that the ECHR
exercises this right by deciding to subject cases to retrial at the national level. Chamberlain
(2018) examined national security cases and found that the court took into account all the
circumstances in order to make a fair decision in such cases.
Bignami and Resta (2018) examined the national security protection by the judicial
authorities in terms of violation of the right to privacy and the espionage activities. Christakis
and Bouslimani (2019) and Magnus (2020) considered ECHR case law on intelligence and
surveillance as part of a threat to national and public security. These scholars consider the
European Court not only as a guarantor of human rights, but also the institution that has
repeatedly balanced the interests of national security and inviolability of life, taking into
account the rule of law and legislation. Grădinaru (2018) studied ECHR case law in terms of
technical surveillance at the European level, and found that technical surveillance was a
manifestation of the violation of the right to privacy of any European citizen. Natoli (2019)
reviewed the trends of ECHR cybersecurity protection case law and found that this judicial
authority is a guarantor of privacy and the right to freedom of expression in digital world.
Fabbrini (2018) and Curtin (2018) studied the ECHR case law on the balance of
counter-terrorism and national security. Galani (2020) examined ECHR judgments on
terrorism from the perspective of national security, and concluded that national security is
not a ground for violating human rights and freedoms, and the court undermines the
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principles of justice by making decisions on such cases in violation of these rights. Szabó and
Năvodariu (2019) and Radu (2018) reviewed the Romania’s practice of ECHR judgments on
the protection of refugees in the context of national security, and established the refusal of
trial in most cases due to their importance for national security. Kudriashova (2017) dealt
with the case law on suppression of non-traditional religious associations under the pretext
of national security protection, and determined that judicial authorities handle non-
traditional religious associations sensitively and consider them as a threat to national
security despite the legally established principles of religious freedom.
Nevertheless, despite the wide range of research on this issue, the issues of the
effectiveness of ECHR work in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms and
national security are partially studied, which determines the topicality of the research.
2. Methods and materials
This study involved three stages. The first stage provided for the search and study of
academic literature on justice, research on violations human rights and freedoms to ensure
national security, the provisions of international treaties on human rights and freedoms, the
practice of application of the legal remedies for national security protection and analysis of
ECHR practices of resolving disputes related to the protection of human rights and freedoms
and national security. The topic, aim and objectives of the study were identified and
established by analysing the said references.
The second stage involved a theoretical and experimental study of the chosen topic
conducted by comparing their results and analysing the differences. The theoretical study
revealed the essence of the ECHR national security protection system in terms of respect for
human rights and freedoms. The tasks and the role of ECHR in protecting human rights and
freedoms and national security were determined through the experimental research based on
international standards, the legal framework of European justice and generalization of their
practical application, as well as theoretical analysis of research papers on problematic issues
of ECHR.
The third stage involved the final analysis for achievement of the aim and setting out
the research results in writing.
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The research topic was studied through the use of empirical and theoretical methods.
Empirical research reflects the object of the research — ECHR work on the protection of
human rights and freedoms in terms of the national interests — from the standpoint of
international legal support of European justice and the importance of ECHR role in the
protection of human rights and freedoms and national security for member states of the
Council of Europe. Academic, legal, statistical and practical information on the components
of the national security system was analysed from the perspective of the protection of human
rights and freedoms through the comparative analysis. Theoretical research of European
justice reveals the subject of research in terms of the universal internal, essential connections
and regularities, which are covered by rational processing of empirical data. The combination
of empirical and theoretical methods allowed making an empirical interpretation of the
theory and theoretical interpretation of empirical data, as well as revealing the role of ECHR
in the system of protection of human rights and freedoms and national security.
The research sample included the following research objects: general characteristics of
European justice and its powers in the system of protection of human rights and freedoms
and national security, analysis of the ECHR national security protection system and practical
recommendations for interpretation of international standards for respect of human rights
and freedoms. ECHR case law was conductive in determining systems for the protection of
national security, as well as human rights and freedoms. The combined study of these objects
revealed the problems of justice in the field of protection of human rights and freedoms. The
research was based on information retrieval and scientometric databases.
International legal acts were the core materials of the research: the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms, and the ECHR case law.
3. Results
The provisions of Section II of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms determine the work of the ECHR as the main international and
regional court of justice (United Nations, 2021). According to Article 32 of the Convention,
jurisdiction of the ECHR applies to all matters of interpretation and application of the
Convention and its Protocols. The Court considers applications filed by individuals who
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complain of violations of their rights and freedoms by adhering to the rule of law, the rule of
law and justice to restore fundamental human rights and freedoms which are proclaimed not
only by the Convention but also by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
International control over the observance of national security interests in a democratic
society is the most important legal instrument used not only to address issues related to the
protection of rights and freedoms of individuals, groups, but also to improve legislation and
law enforcement practices of the states in accordance with international standards. The
provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms stipulate that the ECHR national security protection system (Figure 1) is
established by Article 6 (Right to a fair trial), Article 8 (Right to respect for private and family
life), Article 10 (Freedom of expression) and Article 11 (Freedom of assembly and
association).
Figure 1. ECHR national security protection system.
Source: author’s development based on (Council of Europe, n.d.).
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
guarantees everyone a fair and public trial of his or her appeal in the ECHR on the violation
of his or her civil rights and obligations or the establishment of the propriety of the criminal
charges against him or her. The publicity of such cases may be limited by not admitting the
media or the public to any part of the trial for the sake of morality, public order or national
A fair trial of the ECHR, with the
publicity limited to the protection of
national security
Restrictions on the right to respect
for private and family life imposed
by the ECHR on the grounds of the
national security protection
Restrictions on the right to freedom
of expression imposed by the
ECHR on the grounds of the
national security protection
Restrictions on the right to freedom
of peaceful assembly and
association imposed by the ECHR
on the grounds of the national
security protection
ECHR national
security protection
system
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security in a democratic society. At the same time, the court decision is announced publicly,
despite the said restrictions.
The ECHR practice of trying cases of violation of the right of access to a court to ensure
national security is primarily a manifestation of partiality in trying a case on the prohibition
of declassifying case materials by a national court. The case of Tinnelly & Sons Ltd and
Others and McElduff and Others v. the United Kingdom (European Court of Human Rights,
1998) was on the violation of the right to enter into a treaty on religious grounds and refusal
to declassify part of the case by a national court during the trial. The ECHR recognized in its
decision in this case that consideration of national security interests was a legitimate fact
that entails the restriction of access to court and the objectivity of trial.
The ECHR is an international organisation empowered to settle disputes regarding the
restriction of the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence. The
violation of this right is a result of the activities of public authorities aimed at ensuring
national and public security, preventing riots or crimes, protecting the health, morals, rights
and freedoms of others and the economic well-being of the country as a whole.
ECHR case law on the interception in the interests of national security indicates a
violation of privacy rights. In the case of Klass and Others v. Germany (European Court of
Human Rights, 1978), they challenged the legislation that restricted the right to secrecy of
correspondence, mail and telephone conversations by interception without the obligations
of special authorities to inform the persons concerned in any case after interception. In this
case, the ECHR established that German law provided for a system of the interception of
correspondence of any person without notice. The ECHR recognized this system as a
violation of Art. 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, which may target any person even without documentary evidence of interception.
In its decision on Weber and Saravia v. Germany (European Court of Human Rights,
2006), the ECHR notes that although surveillance and interception of communications is
lawful, they violate Article 8 of this Convention, regardless of the circumstances, the interests
of national security including. In Kennedy v. The United Kingdom (European Court of
Human Rights, 2010), the ECHR noted that surveillance should not be used excessively by
public authorities, as such actions may be of public concern. So, having tried such cases, the
ECHR recognizes that a person who has been subjected to an invasion of privacy has the
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right to identify himself or herself as a victim of action undertaken by the state — a
surveillance, or the legislation that allows such action. When filing a statement of claim, the
victim is not obliged to indicate the facts of the use of surveillance.
The ECHR case law on violation of the right to privacy not only indicates a violation of
this a right provided by Article 8 of the Convention, but also recognizes such a violation a
crime for the settlement of disputed public relations. ECHR made such a decision in
Buturugă v. Romania (European Court of Human Rights, 2020), where it identified
cyberbullying as a form of domestic violence against women. The ECHR recognizes the
monitoring, access to or retention of correspondence of one of the spouses without the right
to do it of another one to be the domestic violence. In this case, the ECHR also recognizes
cyberbullying as a form of violence and harassment on the Internet.
The ECHR tries cases on restricted right to freedom of expression to resolve disputes
related to national security protection in a democratic society. Article 10 of the Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms provides that this right
includes the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas
without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. Violation of the said
freedoms result from the application of certain restrictions or sanctions by public authorities
approved by law. Public authorities apply these measures in the interests of national and
public security, for protection of territorial integrity, to prevent riots or offenses, to protect
the health, morals, reputation, rights and freedoms of others, and to prevent the disclosure of
confidential information.
ECHR practices of resolving disputes over violations of freedom of expression and
national security point to the legitimacy of prosecution established by law to protect a
democratic society. The case of Church v. Spain, where the senator accused the government
of killing nationalists, reflects the legitimacy of the restriction of freedom of opinion
(European Court of Human Rights, 1992). The national court refused senator to accept the
evidence of his statements, which reflected his view of the case, referring to the protection of
national security. In its decision in the case, the ECHR established a violation of Article 10 of
the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European
Court of Human Rights, 2013).
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The ECHR resolves disputes arising from violations of the right to freedom of peaceful
assembly and association, including the establishment of trade unions and joining them for
the purpose of protection of one’s own interests to ensure national security in a democratic
society. The actions of public authorities that impose certain restrictions with the purpose
of protecting national and public security, preventing riots and disorder, as well as protecting
the health, morals, rights and freedoms of others are violations of the said freedoms. Article
11 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
provides the exception of the necessary legal restrictions on such rights in relation to law
enforcement and public authorities.
An increasing year-to-year trend of appeals to the ECHR for protection of rights and
freedoms is observed. Table 1 presents the distribution of the number of appeals submitted
to the ECHR from European countries in 2021 and 1959-2021.
Table 1. Number of appeals submitted to the ECHR from European countries in 2021 and
1959-2021
Country
Years
Country
Years
1959-2021
2021
1959-2021
2021
TOTAL
1,019,471
44,257
Switzerland
7,908
273
Russia
191,965
9,432
Lithuania
7,624
429
Turkey
129,040
9,548
Azerbaijan
6,978
425
Ukraine
104,783
3,721
Macedonia
6,518
394
Romania
87,964
2,971
Georgia
6,489
120
Poland
75,599
2,889
Finland
5,890
91
Italy
50,538
1,610
Latvia
5,496
268
France
35,258
764
Belgium
4,884
155
Serbia
34,858
1,993
Portugal
4,668
260
Germany
27,755
574
Armenia
4,078
134
Hungary
25,352
1,086
Estonia
3,807
113
Great Britain
23,197
210
Montenegro
3,594
381
Bulgaria
18,515
623
Norway
2,131
116
Croatia
17,491
698
Denmark
1,925
67
Moldova
15,940
630
Albania
1,591
75
Spain
14,099
614
Cyprus
1,348
52
Czech Republic
14,016
331
Ireland
1,085
35
Bosnia
13,212
784
Luxembourg
724
30
Netherlands
11,593
248
Malta
534
62
Greece
10,892
912
Iceland
359
21
Sweden
10,554
157
Liechtenstein
184
8
Slovenia
10,136
234
San Marino
136
18
Slovakia
9,576
460
Monaco
120
8
Austria
8,958
222
Andorra
109
11
Source: author’s development based on European Court of Human Rights (2022; 2022a)
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The history of the ECHR evidences that every third case concerned a violation of the
right to a fair trial provided by Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Figure 2 demonstrates the distribution of the remaining
cases on violation of the rights under the Convention.
Figure 2. Distribution of appeals to the ECHR in 2021 and 1959-2021. Source: author’s
development based on European Court of Human Rights (2022; 2022a).
In 2021, almost 50% of cases were filed in the interests of national security in order to
ensure national security protection in cases of the violation of the right to a fair trial (Article
6), respect for private and family life (Article 8), the restriction of freedom of expression
(Article 10), as well as assembly and association (Article 11). Similarly, every second ECHR
case in 1959-2021 concerned the protection of public and national security. The issue of
protection of national interests has always been a priority for every state.
4. Discussion
The practice of applying the national legal framework for the protection of human
rights and the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms mainly determine the effectiveness of the ECHR in resolving
disputes related to respect for human rights and freedoms and national security protection.
ECHR case law demonstrates the state of the application of legal remedies in the interests of
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national security through the imposition of sanctions and restrictions on human rights and
freedoms, both at the national and international levels.
According to Szabó and Năvodariu (2019, p. 375-377) and Majić (2021, p. 198-204),
protection of national security is the ground for try cases in the ECHR. Kudriashova (2017)
and Ulfstein (2020, p. 917-919) share this opinion and argue that the judicial authorities can
make decisions which contain certain restrictions on human rights because of conflicts of
law, despite the legally enshrined human rights and freedoms, in order to protect national
security. As Natoli (2019, p. 145-150) and Radu (2018, p. 69-71) noted, the ECHR case law is
important for the system of international guarantees of respect for human rights. They
maintain that the adoption of a similar ECHR regulation on cybersecurity, which is identical
to the text of the European Convention on Human Rights, further led to ambiguous
interpretation of human right to privacy and freedom of expression by the ECHR in
cybersecurity cases. Moreover, the digitalization process requires the adaptation of the legal
system for its protection.
Turner (2020, p. 201-203) and Dickinson (2021) state that restrictions on human rights,
including the prohibition of free expression about terrorist organizations and terrorism in
the media and the Internet as a significant threat to public and national security, are a
violation of human rights and freedoms proclaimed by international law. According to
Prabhat (2020), the case law on national security shows that citizens convicted of terrorism
have been deprived of their citizenship. Chlebny (2018, p. 115-117) notes that when
committing crimes related to migration and national security, the courts decide on the
deportation of such criminals or denial of visas and entry, ban on entry and deprivation of
rights and temporary residence. He emphasizes that such measures violate international
guarantees of human rights, despite the degree of guilt for crimes against national security,
although they are necessary for protecting national security.
Hajipour (2020, p. 90-93) found that ECHR practices to return cases to the national
level for retrial in order to eliminate violations of the right to a fair trial and national security
protection. Chamberlain (2018, p. 496-498) maintains that doing justice in making decisions
by the court, in trying cases on national security including, is the basis of the judicial system.
As Bignami and Resta (2018) and Vasile and Timiş (2010, 224-226) noted about court
decisions in cases on the violations by spy agencies that keep a person’s private life under
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surveillance, the courts, although they must respect the right to privacy, may also impose
certain restrictions on human rights from the perspective of national security protection.
Having assessed the ECHR case law on intelligence and surveillance practices as part of a
threat to national and public security, Christakis and Bouslimani (2019) and Magnus (2020)
found a trend towards digitalization of such cases in the ECHR. The digital transformation
of intelligence requires an urgent adjustment of the legal framework for the legality of the use
of digital technologies in intelligence, face recognition technology including.
Analysing the ECHR cases on counter-terrorism and national security cases Fabbrini
(2018, p. 869-874) and Curtin (2018, p. 846-850) identified that the ECHR, in contrast to
national courts, studies the case more widely, requiring the study of materials containing
state secret among other things. Researchers explain this position of the ECHR by a number
of reasons, including location, time, and institutional structure. So, the ECHR case law on
the non-disclosure of state secrets and national security is a tool of external oversight of the
practical observance of human rights in European countries. Galani (2020, p. 97-100) believes
that the court strikes the principles of justice by making decisions in terrorism cases from
the perspective of protecting national security in violation of human rights, as national
security is not a basis for violation of human rights and freedoms.
Grădinaru (2018, p. 5-7) and Simen (2020, p. 5-7) argue that the ECHR shall recognize
the use of technical surveillance tools a violation of the right to privacy as a result of increased
public attention. But the scholars emphasize that the public should not misuse such control,
as ignoring the right to a fair trial entails biased proceedings.
As Karvatska and Zamorska (2018, p. 2-4) and Bachmann and Sanden (2017) point that
the ECHR is the most effective system of human rights protection among the existing
regional and national systems. Pădurariu (2020, p. 274-276) and Sychenko and Chernyaeva
(2019, p. 171-174) state that ECHR is an effective tool in solving problems of social, political
and economic regulation. The theoretical analysis of these issues of protection of human
rights and freedoms and national security by ECHR revealed the need for further study of the
effectiveness of ECHR on observance of international guarantees of human rights and the
ECHR case law in this area, which would adjust the development of justice in general.
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Conclusions
Public control over the observance of the national security interests of a democratic
society at the international level is an effective legal tool for resolving disputes arising from
violations of rights and freedoms committed in order to ensure national security. The ECHR
practices of resolving these disputes promote further improvement of legislation and law
enforcement practices of states in accordance with international standards.
The ECHR national security protection system consists of the following elements:
publicity of the fair trial limited by the ECHR because of the protection of national security
in a democratic society; the right to respect for private and family life restricted by the ECHR
because of the protection of national security in a democratic society; the right to freedom of
expression restricted by the ECHR because of the protection of national security in a
democratic society; the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association restricted by
the ECHR in order to protect national security in a democratic society.
The prospects of further research involve the development of practical
recommendations based on ECHR practices of resolving disputes related to respect for
human rights and freedoms, as well as the national security protection. This is why we found
further prospect in empirical study, as well as theoretical and methodological grounding of
effective mechanisms for implementing international guarantees of human rights and
freedoms at the national level, including a system of legal tools that ensure lawful activities
of public authorities with the purpose of national security protection, which are necessary
to ensure the development of the individual.
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