Cultural rights in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights

The Research Division of the European Court of Human Rights published this report on the Cultural rights in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in January 2011.

This report provides a selection of the European Court of Human Rights’ main jurisprudence in the context of cultural rights. Although neither the Convention nor the Court explicitly recognise the “right to culture” or the right to take part in cultural life, unlike other international treaties, the Court’s case-law provides interesting examples of how some rights falling under the notion of “cultural rights” in a broad sense can be protected under core civil rights, such as the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8 of the Convention), the right to freedom of expression (Article 10) and the right to education (Article 2 of Protocol No. 1).