The aim of this article is to show the gap between discourse and practice at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg. In fact, while the lexical field of human rights revolves around terms like ‘absolute’ and ‘inviolable’, the Court has relentlessly sought to soften the clout of the rights entailed in the European Convention it is supposed to enforce. Thus the article first suggests an explanation as to why the ECtHR fails to take a strong stand in favour of individual freedoms and against state power. It then proceeds to present the legal array the ECtHR has developed to pursue this goal.
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