"The European Convention on Human Rights, as well as its interpretation by the Strasbourg bodies, is so riven with exceptions, derogations and state 'get-outs' that the protection afforded by it has been far inferior to what one would have anticipated at its inception."
INTRODUCTION
Individual rights are not absolute. This very clear assertion assumes that, the individual rights are subject to some reasonable restriction for the sake of community interests. The international conventions, covenants, treaties reflects this rationality with the some ‘derogation clauses’ where accepts restricting individuals rights to preserve national security, public order, moral values. The authors of the European Convention on Human Rights also guaranteed this rationality in the convention. The very rationality of protecting public interest and national security in line with individual rights in the most international conventions has brought a compromise between state parties of the conventions and the international organs. While the state parties to the international instruments protecting human rights in one hand attempting to retain their sovereign powers, the international organs are in the tendency to achieve maximum application of treaty or convention terms. This compromise between states and the international organs has long been achieved by the so called derogation clauses. These clauses in the international instruments, mainly, provides states with a wide discretion to determine whether there is a threat to their national security or public order and provides a right to derogate from their treaty obligations. Sure each treaty safeguards some main rights as non-derogable rights. And obligations under international law also secured in the treaty terms. One of the oldest and effective international instruments, European Convention on Human Rights also contains such clause. Article 15 of the ECHR precisely deals state right to derogate. The article put forwards the main requirements that should be satisfied and a notification procedure should be followed. The main concern with the derogation article is that window of vulnerability in the application of article. The very clear assumption that international organs’ lack of supervision powers especially in the time of emergencies strengthened the concerns regarding the abuse of the derogation articles. The wide margin of appreciation provided states in the assessment of emergencies on the other hand creates another important excuse to claim that there is insufficient human rights protection. Nonetheless there are also many advantages of the derogation articles, which at least provide temporary limitation of international conventions rather than total abandonment of treaties or wide reservations of treaty terms. This paper will analyze the ECHR article 15 in accordance with subsequent case law. On the other hand pros and cons of derogation articles will also be discussed in the second part of the paper.
