The issue of human rights has traditionally remained within the preempted province of the state. Thus, the manner in which a state treated its own nationals and the people within its borders remained outside the realm of International law (Burgenthal, 1995: 3). But, this was gradually changed after the Second World War as evidenced by the signing of the United Nations (UN) Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Therefore, the modern international human rights law1, by implication the international protection of human rights, is a twentieth century development and closely associated to the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945.

Another major development in the twentieth century regarding human rights is the evolution of the regional human rights systems. Regional human rights systems are schemes for promotion and protection of human rights within certain geopolitical region. Among the regional systems2, European system is the oldest one and the Council of Europe (CoE)3 is the first regional organization to enlist human rights as one of its foundational principles. And in 1950, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (commonly called the European Convention, ECHRa) was adopted by the member states of the CoE.