Robinson, Edmund Paul; (2022) The Obligation to Avert Risks of Violence under the European Convention on Human Rights. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Text E Robinson Thesis Final with accepted minor corrections January 2022.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 February 2026. Download (2MB)

Abstract

The European Court of Human Rights engages with state obligations to protect against risks of violence in some of its most high-profile jurisprudence. The court has elaborated obligations to respond to risks of criminal violence, and to restrain state activities with associated risks of violence, and it is continuously called on to apply and develop those obligations further in new cases. However while much scholarship exists regarding certain categories of case, the existing commentary has not sought to identify and analyse the common principles which underlie them. This thesis seeks to address that gap, and thereby enable a better understanding of the court’s approach and a clearer model for application to future cases. This thesis argues that the European Convention on Human Rights enshrines a right to freedom from violence, obliging states to diligently anticipate and address risks of all forms of violence. It identifies the content of that obligation, which it divides into two strands. One is the obligation to respond to specific threats, which plays the most prominent role in the jurisprudence. The thesis identifies the structure for that obligation, in terms of the conditions for triggering it and its intensity once it arises. The other is the obligation to implement ‘systemic’ measures to address more general risks of violence. While that obligation is in principle extremely important, understanding its impact through individual cases is complex, due to the standing requirements imposed on applicants to the court. As a result this obligation is under-developed in the jurisprudence, and the clarifying account offered in this thesis provides a basis for further development. Across both obligations, it will be seen that the flexible and comprehensive model, which has incrementally emerged in the jurisprudence, offers significant potential for addressing the challenges raised by the right to freedom from violence.

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