Conflicting Human Rights: An Exploration in the Context of the Right to a Fair Trial in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

The proliferation of human rights claims increases the occurrence of situations in which two or more distinct human rights enter into conflict. Conflicts between human rights are a challenge for both legislators and judges. In this article, the issue of conflicting human rights is explored in the context of one particular human right—the right to a fair trial—and one judicial body—the European Court of Human Rights. Part I introduces the multifaceted nature of the right to a fair trial as protected in Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Part II attempts to outline a general framework for approaching conflicting human rights and analyzes the recent case law of the European Court of Human Rights in light of that framework, dealing with both conflicts between different aspects of the right to a fair trial, as well as with conflicts between the right to a fair trial and other human rights. Part III summarizes the findings of the case law research.