on Human Rights or ECHR) of 4 November 1950. The convention not only
enabled a minimum standard for the safeguarding of human rights to be laid
down for the member countries; it also established a system of legal protection
which enables the bodies established in Strasbourg under it (the European
Commission on Human Rights and the European Court of Human
Rights) to condemn violations of human rights in the member countries.
This group of organisations also includes the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), founded in 1994 as the successor to the
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE is bound by
the principles and aims set out in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the 1990
Charter of Paris. Alongside measures to build up trust between the countries
of Europe, these aims also include the creation of a ‘safety net’ to enable
conflicts to be settled by peaceful means. As events of the recent past have
shown, Europe still has a long way to go in this respect.