Europeans lack knowledge about the ECHR, but do they want to stay in?

The majority of Europeans appear to be unhappy with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in its current form, with many wishing to change migrant rules and large numbers unsure about what role it even plays today.

EU citizens in five member states support modifying the convention’s rules to allow countries to deport immigrants who commit serious crimes, even if their family resides in the new country, according to a recent YouGov survey.

German respondents support it the most at 75%, while Italians are the least likely to, even though their level of support still sits at 59%.

This vision follows a statement by a group of European countries, led by Italy and Denmark, to the Council of Europe in December last year, which called for a new ECHR migration framework.

“These complex and disruptive challenges — that our societies face and which test the capacity of our current framework — were either unforeseen at the time the convention system and the Convention were drafted or have evolved significantly since then,” the statement said.

Little awareness of the ECHR’s job

Yet despite 27 European governments backing the call, and the majority of Polish, German, French, Spanish and Italian citizens surveyed voicing a similar opinion, only 2% to 4% of Europeans claim to know a “great deal” about the ECHR and what it actually does.

Only 8% of Spanish and Italian respondents correctly stated that the right to migrate between countries is not an area covered by the ECHR, for example, and 10% of them correctly stated that the ECHR is not an EU body.

In fact, the ECHR is an international treaty drafted by the Council of Europe to protect human rights and democracy. The Council of Europe is completely separate from the EU, with 46 member states, although the two pan-European organisations do work closely together.

The ECHR is enforced by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), based in Strasbourg.

In the YouGov survey, only 13% of Italians and 18% of Germans answered correctly that the ECtHR cannot overrule or annul national laws.

Despite the apparent lack of knowledge in how the court works, many still think it’s doing a good job: half of Polish citizens think the ECtHR performs its functions effectively, while the Spanish, Germans, Italians, and French are more divided about how it’s doing, according to YouGov.

Europeans say yes to ECHR membership

It’s a similar story with the convention: while most Europeans also appear to be unaware of how well the ECHR is doing its job, few want to withdraw from it.

Between half and two-thirds of respondents in each of the five EU countries surveyed say they want to stay in the ECHR.

On average, citizens are most likely to think it has a positive impact on security co-operation with other European nations, as well as on their nation’s reputation with other countries.

In terms of their own everyday rights, Europeans tend to say that ECHR membership has a positive impact rather than a negative one, while between 24% and 34% of respondents believe it does not make much difference.

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