30 March 2020

Damages awarded by the European Court of Human Rights vary country-by-country

New research from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge reveals that the amount individuals receive in damages from the European Court of Human Rights depends on which country is put in the dock — and frequent violators like Turkey and Russia get a 'discount'. Analysing 12,000 judgments, the study found that factors linked to the state in the dock — its GDP, conduct and record of violations — affect compensation far more than the victim's own circumstances: rich countries such as the UK and Denmark pay higher compensation than Ukraine, Russia or Turkey, and the more often a state violates human rights, the less it pays. Judges explained that they lower damages out of concern that frequent violators will not comply. Yet with awards ranging from just €1,000 to €18,000, the study asks whether this practice in fact enables repetitive violators to 'pay off' their behaviour and keep repeating it.