INFORMING HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENT AND ENFORCEMENT
We are scholars who produce comprehensive data on European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Judgments to promote justice, accountability and transparency through the legal process. The database (ECHRdb) includes over 15,000 ECHR judgments from 1960-2014, and identifies all interest and advocacy organization participation in the case. The ECHRdb establishes new field standards in data sharing, management and usability protocols easing access to vital human rights data.
USERS
The ECHRdb is cross-temporal, cross-national and covers several legal domains. It is accessible to students, researchers, practitioners and the general public.
- Researchers and Educators can examine and analyze ECHR judgments on participation and decision level variables enabling innovative social science analysis and enhancing classroom curriculum.
- Practitioners are able to quickly track trends in human rights violations by key variables such as defendant country, legal domain and decision outcome.
- Advocacy Groups can quickly identify successful litigation strategies and mobilization patterns, facilitating a growing network, community and infrastructure for human rights protection.
DATA
The ECHRdb makes available a set of downloadable raw data files and an online analysis tool enabling broad access to the data. The database includes variables detailing judicial decision patterns (subject matter, violation rate, defendant country, etc) and organization participation and effects (organization identification, participation rates, types of participation, amicus impact, domestic legal change, etc).
- 3 Datasets: Users can examine all the variables (Comprehensive) or narrow their analysis to focus on the judgment level patterns (Judgment Centered) or organization participation patterns (Participation Centered).
- Online Analysis and Visualization: Users can filter the data, analyze frequencies, and compare variables. The data visualization uses an innovative new platform, Arrays, designed by Seattle based research and design firm, Schema Design. The ECHRdb comes to life through a fully interactive design offering custom views to visualize the data, from basic charts and graphs to interactive galleries and timelines.
TEAM AND FUNDING
The ECHRdb was developed by Principal Investigator Rachel Cichowski, Professor of Political Science and Law, Societies and Justice at the University of Washington. Elizabeth Chrun, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Political Science at McGill University, serves as Lead Project Researcher and Web Developer. Christian Schmidt of Schema Design LLC serves as lead Design Specialist. The project received funding from the University of Washington (Royalty Research Fund), the National Science Foundation (SES 1322161, SES 1649863), and the Fonds de recherche Société et culture du Québec.
SUGGESTED CITATION
Cichowski, Rachel & Elizabeth Chrun (2017). European Court of Human Rights Database (ECHRdb), Version 1.0 Release 2017. http://depts.washington.edu/echrdb/