The privatization of European Human Rights : a case-law analisys of the application of the European Convention on Human Rights in the sphere of relations between non-state-actors with special reference to the United Kingdom's legal order

Abstract

This thesis challenges several traditional assumptions concerning human rights. In particular it challenges the presumption that the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights are irrelevant for cases which concern the sphere of relations between individuals. It asks whether victims should be protected from non-state actors, and attempts to develop a coherent approach to 'human rights in the private sphere’. It is the application of human rights law to the actions of private bodies which this thesis labels 'the privatization of human rights'. The research concentrates on the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights, and their enforcement in the courts of the United Kingdom and at the European level: at the European Commission and Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.