Often tested

The European Convention on Human Rights: drafted with British help

After the Second World War, the countries of Europe wanted to make sure the cruelty seen in the war could never happen again. In 1949, ten western European countries signed a treaty in London that created the Council of Europe. One of its first big tasks was to write a convention to protect human rights.

Its full name is the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, but it is usually called the European Convention on Human Rights. British diplomats and lawyers played an important part in drafting it, and David Maxwell Fyfe, who had been the UK's deputy chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, was one of them. In 1950, the UK was among the first countries to sign it.

The signing took place in Rome on 4 November 1950, but signing is only the first step: each country then has to "ratify" the treaty, formally approving it through its own procedures. The UK did so quickly, on 8 March 1951, under Clement Attlee's Labour government. The Convention came into force in September 1953, once enough countries had ratified it.