The Right to Non-Discrimination: Interpretive Practice of the Ecthr

Abstract

The article conducts a legal analysis of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the protection of the right to non-discrimination, which is a fundamental and general principle concerning human rights protection. During the period of functioning of the ECtHR, the Court has processed a huge amount of cases concerning violation of the right to equality and the inextricably linked principle of non-discrimination under Art. 14 and Art. 1 of Protocol № 12 of the ECHR. The evolution of the interpretation of the ECtHR shows the transformation of approaches to the interpretation of the right to non-discrimination. The court gradually began to expand the range of possible violations, from outright prohibition to the detection and the statement of indirect discrimination, and its decisions contributed to the normative formulations of the principle of non-discrimination in national systems and its gradual transformation from a purely declarative to a coherent effective mechanism of protection of discrimination victims and a mechanism of the approval of democracy, human dignity. The rule of law forms the central principle of interpretation of the Convention. A consensual investigation allows the ECHR to tie its decisions to the pace of change in national law, recognizing the political sovereignty of the respondent States and, at the same time, legitimizing its own decisions against them, adhering to the principles of a democratic state governed by the rule of law. The purpose of this article is to analyze peculiarities of the ECtHR's interpretive practice in cases concerning the right to non-discrimination.