Protocol 1

This Protocol contains three different rights in which the signatories could not agree to place in the Convention itself. Monaco and Switzerland have signed but never ratified Protocol 1.^[23]

Article 1 - property

Article 1 provides for the right to the peaceful enjoyment of one's possessions.

Article 2 - education

Article 2 provides for the right not to be denied an education and the right for parents to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and other views. It does not however guarantee any particular level of education of any particular quality.^[24]

Although phrased in the Protocol as a negative right, in Şahin v. Turkey the Court ruled that:

"it would be hard to imagine that institutions of higher education existing at a given time do not come within the scope of the first sentence of Article 2 of Protocol No 1. Although that Article does not impose a duty on the Contracting States to set up institutions of higher education, any State doing so will be under an obligation to afford an effective right of access to them. In a democratic society, the right to education, which is indispensable to the furtherance of human rights, plays such a fundamental role that a restrictive interpretation of the first sentence of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 would not be consistent with the aim or purpose of that provision."^[25]

Article 3 - elections

Article 3 provides for the right to regular, free and fair elections.

• Matthews v. United Kingdom (1999) 28 EHRR 361

Protocol 4 - civil imprisonment, free movement, expulsion

Article 1 prohibits the imprisonment of people for breach of a contract. Article 2 provides for a right to freely move within a country once lawfully there and for a right to leave any country. Article 3 prohibits the expulsion of nationals and provides for the right of an individual to enter a country of his or her nationality. Article 4 prohibits the collective expulsion of foreigners.

Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom have signed but never ratified Protocol 4. Andorra, Greece and Switzerland have neither signed nor ratified this protocol.

The United Kingdom's failure to ratify this protocol is due to concerns over the interaction of Article 2 and Article 3 with British nationality law. Specifically, several classes of "British national" (such as British National (Overseas)) do not have the right of abode in the United Kingdom and are subject to immigration control there. In 2009, the UK government stated that it had no plans to ratify Protocol 4 because of concerns that those articles could be taken as conferring that right.^[26]

Protocol 6 - restriction of death penalty

Requires parties to restrict the application of the death penalty to times of war or "imminent threat of war".

Every Council of Europe member state has signed and ratified Protocol 6, except Russia who has signed but not ratified.^[27]

Protocol 7 - crime and family

• Article 1 provides for a right to fair procedures for lawfully resident foreigners facing expulsion.

• Article 2 provides for the right to appeal in criminal matters.

• Article 3 provides for compensation for the victims of miscarriages of justice.

• Article 4 prohibits the re-trial of anyone who has already been finally acquitted or convicted of a particular offence (Double jeopardy).

• Article 5 provides for equality between spouses.

Despite having signed the protocol more than twenty years ago, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey have never ratified it. Belgium, which signed the protocol in 2005, ratified it in 2012, becoming the latest member state to do so. The United Kingdom has neither signed nor ratified the protocol.^[28]